MASTER 
NEGA  TIVE 

NO.  91-801 74 


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AUTHOR: 


BURN,  ROBERT 


TITLE: 


ANCIENT  ROME  AND  ITS 
NEIGHBOURHOOD  ... 

PLACE: 

LONDON 

DA  TE : 

1895 


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Bum,  Robert,  1829-1904. 

bo^fiTL^.'''"!^^!^'^'''^^^^^  ^^  illustrated  hand- 

llnHon  r'^'n  ?f '  "''^o^^^  Campagna.    By  Robert  Bum 
...    lx)ndon,  G.  Bell  &  sons,  1895. 

xlll.  292  p.  Incl.  front,  lllus.,  plates,  maps,  plans.    19-. 

"Condensed  from  'Rome  and  the  Campagna'  and  'Old  Rome\"-Pret 

Another  copy  in  Lav/.        1895. 


l.^ome  (City)— Descr.    2.  Rome  (City)— Antlq. 


Library  of  Congress 


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GEORGE  BELL  &  SONS 

LONDON  :  YORK  STREET,  COVENT  GARDEN 
AND  NEW  YORK  :  66,  FIFTH  AVENUE 
CAMBRIDGE  :  DEIGHTON,  BELL  AND  CO. 


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ANCIENT    ROME 

AND    ITS 

NEIGHBOURHOOD 

AN    ILLUSTRATED    HANDBOOK    TO    THE 

RUINS    IN    THE    CITY    AND 

CAMPAGNA 


By    ROBERT    BURN    M.A. 


FELLOW   OF   TRINITY  COLLEGE,    CAMBRIDGE;    AUTHOR   OF        ROME   AND   THtt 

A,"   "old   ROME,"    "ROMAN   LITER 

RELATION    TO    ROMAN    ART,"   ETC. 


CAMPAGNA,"   "old   ROME,"    "ROMAN   LITERATURE   IN 


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PREFACE. 

The  following  pages,  condensed  from  "  Rome  and  the  Cam- 
pagna"  and  "Old  Rome,"  include  the  latest  discoveries 
amongst  the  ruins  of  Rome  an4  its  neighbourhood,  and  they 
will,  it  is  hoped,  prove  a  useful  guide  to  archaeologists  and 
travellers. 

The  most  important  excavations  since  the  publication  of 
the  above  books  have  been  those  of  the  Temple  of  Vesta  and 
of  the  Rostra  in  the  Forum. 

My  thanks  are  due  to  Mr.  Edward  Bell,  my  publisher,  for 

the  care  and  trouble  with  which  he  has  revised  the  whole 

work,  and  also  to  Miss  Dora  Bulwer  for  personal  help  in 

Rome,  and  for  allowing  me  to  use  one  of  her  photographs,  the 

Portico  of  Octavia. 

RoBEBT  Btjen. 

Cambridge, 

September,  1894. 


CHISWICtC    IKESS:— CHARLKS    WIIITTINGHAM    AND   CO. 
TOOKS  COURT,   CHANCKRV   I.ANF,   LONDON. 


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CONTENTS. 


CHAP, 

I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 


VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 


PAGE 

Introduction 1 

The  Palatine  Hill  and  the  Velia    ....  13 

The  Forum  Romanum 41 

The  Coliseum  and  Esquiline 71 

The  Imperial  Fora  and  the  Capitolium  .       .        .100 

The  Velabrum  and  the  Circus  Flaminius      .       .  127 
Pantheon,  Column  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  Mauso- 
leum OF  Augustus,   Mausoleum  of   Hadrian, 

AND  Neighbourhood 159 

The  Quirinal  Hill— Baths  of  Diocletian— Agger 

OF  SeRVIUS— CASTRA  PRiETORIA         .  .  .  .185 

The  Aventine  and  Celian  Hills       .        .       .       .193 

The  Geology  of  Rome 214 

The  Neighbourhood  of  Rome 225 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

Forum  Romanum,  1893 Frontispiece 

Triumphal  Car  of  Titus 1 

Tuscan  Order 7 

Doric ^ 

Roman  Doric 8 

Plan  of  Pseudoperipteral  Temple 8 

Ionic ® 

Debased  Ionic  (Temple  of  Saturn) 9 

Corinthian  (Temple  of  Castor) 10 

Composite  (Arch  of  Titus) 10 

Palatine  Stadium 17 

Palace  of  the  CiESARS 19 

Basilica,  Typical  Plan 23 

Arch  of  Titus 32 

Temple  of  Venus  and  Rome 34 

Basilica  of  Constantine 36 

Coliseum  and  Lavacrum  of  Heliogabalus  .       ...  38 
Churches  of  S.  Lorenzo  in  Miranda  and  SS.  Cosma  and 

Damiano 40 

Temple  of  Castor  and  Pollux 42 

Forum,  from  the  S.E 43 

Atrium  Vest^ 45 

Statue  of  a  Vestal 46 

Temple  of  Antoninus  and  Faustina 48 

Column  of  Phocas 49 

Fragments  of  the  Capitoline  Plan 53 

Temples  of  Saturn  and  Vespasian,  1870     ....  56 

Temple  of  Saturn 57 

Temple  of  Vespasian 59 

Arch  of  Septimius  Severus  from  N.W 62 

Arch  of  Septimius  Severus  from  S.E 65 

Remains  of  the  Gr^costasis  and  Rostra  ....  66 


Xll 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAOE 

Tabularium 69 

Meta  Sudans  and  the  north  face  of  the  Arch  of  Con- 

stantine 72 

Arch  of  Constantine  from  the  south        ....      76 

Coliseum  from  the  Palatine 77 

Terme  di  Galuccio  or  "  Minerva  Medica  "       .  .93 

Porta  S.  Lorenzo  (Porta  Tiburtina) 96 

Porta  Maggiore  (Porta  Pr^nestina  or  Labicana)  .        .      98 

Shops  in  Trajan's  Forum lOl 

Column  of  Trajan 103 

Pedestal  of  Trajan's  Column 105 

Temple  of  Mars  Ultor  (Forum  Augusti)   .        .  ill 

External  Wall  of  the  Forum  Augusti     .  .113 

Nerva's  Forum,  the  Colonnacce 116 

Forum  of  Nerva  in  1600,  after  du  Perac  .  .  .  .118 
Capitoline,  as  seen  from  the  Marmorata  .  .  .  .121 
Temple  of  Jupiter  Capitolinus  on  a  coin  of  Vespasian  122 
Remains  of  the  Therms  of  Constantine  .  .  .  .124 
View  of  the  Palatine  from  the  Tiber  in  1870  .    126 

Janus  Quadrifrons 128 

Arcus  Argentariorum 130 

Cloaca  Maxima,  upper  end 132 

Temple  of  Fortuna 135 

Circular  Temple  near  the  Tiber 137 

S.  Maria  in  Cosmedin 139 

Theatre  of  Marcellus 142 

ponte  rotto 145 

The  Island  of  the  Tiber 147 

PORTICUS  OCTAVIiE 150 

Site  of  the  Porticus  OcTAViiE  as  indicated  by  the  Capi- 
toline Plan 152 

The  Pantheon 163 

muro  torto 178 

The  Castle  of  S.  Angelo  (Mausoleum  of  Hadrian)       .  179 

Bronze  Cone  and  Peacocks  in  the  Vatican  Gardens    .  182 

Porta  Chiusa 191 

Remains  of  the  Servian  Walls 195 

Tomb  of  Caius  Cestius 200 

Baths  of  Caracalla.    Remains  of  the  Tepidarum.       .  203 

Arch  of  Drusus 208 

Arch  of  Dolabella 212 

Alban  Hills  from  S.  Pietro  in  Montorio  .       .       .       .221 


LIST  OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


XllI 


PAGE 

The  Appian  Road 224 

Porta  Appia  (P.  San  Sebastiano) 228 

Circus  of  Maxentius 230 

Tomb  of  Cecilia  Metella 232 

Alban  Lake 239 

The  Ancient  Porta  Asinaria  and  the  Modern  Porta 

S.  Giovanni 246 

Porta  Latina 247 

Ruins  of  the  Claudian  Aqueduct 249 

Tomb  of  the  Plautii 267 

Temple  of  Vesta  at  Tibur 273 

Vico  Varo,  the  neighbourhood  of  Horace's  Sabine  Farm  277 

Porta  Salaria 280 

PONTE  NoMENTANA 282 


MAPS    AND    PLANS. 


Roma  Antiquissima 2 

The  Hills  and  later  Walls  of  Rome        ....  4 

The  Palatine  Hill to  face  page  13 

Forum  Romanum ,,  4% 

Site  of  Aurea  Domus  and  Baths  of  Titus              „  90 

FORA  OF  the  C.ESARS ,,  114 

Circus  Flaminius ,,  154 

Therms  Diocletian^e 186 

The  Servian  Walls 104 

The  Baths  of  Caracalla 202 

Geological  Map  of  Rome        ....      to  face  page  214 

The  Neighbourhood  of  Ancient  Rome        ....  226 

Environs  of  Tivoli 271 

Iconographia  Rom^  Veteris at  end 


Trumphal  Car  of  Titus:  from  the  North  Side  of  the  Arch  of  Titus. 


I 


INTEODUCTION 

I.— The  Site  of  Rome  and  the  Walls  of  Rome. 

One  of  the  principal  points  in  the  early  history  of  every  nation 
IS  the  effect  of  the  natural  configuration  of  the  country  in 
which  their  first  settlements  are  formed  upon  the  subsequent 
character  of  the  people. 

The  site  of  Rome  consists  of  several  separate  hills,  upon 
which  distinct  groups  of  original  settlers  established  them- 
selves.  These  groups  after  a  temporary  rivalry  seem  to  have 
agreed  to  form  a  confederation,  in  which  the  leading  part  was 
assigned  to  the  Palatine  settlement.  Such  was  the  origin  of 
that  special  aptitude  shown  by  the  Romans  for  forming 
coalitions  with  rival  states,  and  also  of  that  most  valuable 
trait  in  their  political  character,  their  reverence  for  law  as 
laid  down  by  a  central  authority,  for  each  group  was  taught 
by  their  confederate  union  to  regard  itself  as  sharing  that 
central  authority.     Hence,  the  historian  Livy  remarks  that 


ANCIENT    ROME. 


INTRODUCTION. 


under  the  Roman  Republic  which  built  up  the  power  of 
Rome,  the  command  of  law  was  8U[)erior  to  that  of  men. 
But  besides  this  aptitude  for  confederate  union  and  respect 


|i 


Roma  Antiquissima 


V   e  n  t  1  n  e 


for  central  authority  which  the  nature  of  the  site  seems  to 
have  instilled  into  them,  the  Romans  were  also  taught  bv  it 
a  readiness  to  meet  their  enemies  in  the  open  field,  and  not 
to  trust  much  to  the  protection  of  steep  crags  or  fortified 


posts.  None  of  the  hills  of  Rome  afforded  a  strong  acropolis, 
such  as  most  other  ancient  cities  possessed.  The  Capitol  of 
Rome  was  by  no  means  impregnable.  Its  central  depression 
rendered  it  always  more*  or  less  accessible  and  liable  to  be 
seized  by  a  powerful  enemy.  The  Palatine,  though  partially 
fortified,  was  never  considered  a  strong  position.  Hence  we 
find  that  the  Servian  walls  were  the  only  fortifications  erected 
to  protect  Rome  for  more  than  eight  hundred  years,  from  the 
time  of  Servius  down  to  that  of  Aurelian.  The  statement  of 
Strabo,  that  the  absence  of  fortifications  round  Rome  was  to 
be  accounted  for  by  the  native  spirit  of  the  Romans,  which 
was  "  to  defend  their  walls  by  their  men,  and  not  their  men 
by  their  walls,"  is  evidently  full  of  meaning. 

II. — Monumental  History. 

Relics  of  the  two  great  public  works  executed  during  the 
regal  period  of  Roman  history  still  remain  in  the  venerable 
stone  arches  of  the  main  drain  which  was  constructed  to 
make  the  Forum  valley  more  habitable,  and  in  the  rough 
portions  of  the  Servian  walls  which  have  been  found  on  the 
Aventine  and  Quiriual  Hills.  It  is  probable  that  some  of  the 
ruined  walls  at  the  edge  of  the  Palatine  are  anterior  to  the 
monuments  of  the  time  of  Servius. 

Of  tlie  earlier  republican  period  of  Roman  history  there 
are  no  monumental  ruins  now  existing.  The  ruins  which 
have  been  excavated  on  the  Capitoline  Hill  and  the  basement 
of  the  Temple  of  Vesta  in  the  Forum  date  from  the  regal 
epoch.  And  this  is  what  might  be  naturally  expected  from 
the  dislike  of  a  republican  government  to  require  the  forced 
labour  anciently  called  for  in  the  erection  of  large  buildings. 
But  in  the  later  period  of  the  Roman  republic  some  of  the 
oligarchical  leaders  and  successful  generals  constructed  large 
buildings,  of  which  traces  can  now  be  found.  Thus  the 
foundations  of  the  temples  and  of  the  portico  built  in  the 
Campus  Martins  by  Metellus  Macedonicus  and  by  Cn 
Octavius  can  be  still  recognized,  and  ruins  of  the  immense 
stone  theatre  of  Pompeius  Magnus  remain  to  the  present  day 
But  the  greater  portion  of  the  ruins  of  Rome  dates  from  the 
Augustan  age  and  the  subsequent  imperial  ages.  The-Theatre 
of  Marcellus,  and  the  Mausoleum  of  Augustus  are  among 


I 


IXTRODUCTIOX.  5 

the  earliest  of  these  ruins.  To  the  Julian  dynasty  may  be 
also  ascribed  the  colossal  columns  of  the  Temple  of  Mars 
Ultor,  with  the  hup^e  wall  adjoining  them,  and  the  Egyptian 
obelisks  which  still  decorate  some  of  the  piazzas.  To  the 
same  dynasty  we  owe  the  vast  arches  of  the  Claudian 
aqueduct,  and  the  massive  brick  foundation  of  the  Palatine 
palace. 

The  Flavian  dynasty,  Vespasian,  Titus,  and  Domitian 
changed  the  characteristic  features  of  the  city  of  Rome.  Where 
Caligula  and  Nero  had  covered  the  ground  with  costly  palaces 
and  pleasure-grounds,  the  Flavian  emperors  built  the  resorts 
of  military  and  of  national  life.  The  Coliseum  and  the  Arch 
of  Titus  were  the  fit  accompaniments  of  their  world-sub- 
duing,  blood-thirsty  legions,  and  the  Baths  of  Titus,  and  the 
public  reception  rooms  on  the  Palatine,  encouraged  the  citizen 
life  of  Rome  once  more  to  develop  itself. 

The  political  aims  and  imperial  ideas  of  Trajan,  Hadrian 
and  the  Antonines  are  nobly  illustrated  by  the  modifications 
and  enlargements  they  introduced  in  the  structure  and  extent 
of  the  city  of  Rome.  Trajan  in  his  magnificent  Forum  and 
library  sought  to  encourage  the  metropolitan  life  and  literary 
tastes  of  the  nation,  while  on  his  storied  column  he  recorded 
their  world-wide  triumphs  and  reminded  them  of  their  enor- 
mous power. 

The  Mausoleum  of  Hadrian  remains  to  commemorate  the 
vast  and  ponderous  strength  of  his  rule,  and  the  Aurelian 
Column  stands  to  attest  the  lofty  magnificence  of  the  Antonine 
dynasty. 

In  the  reign  of  Commodus,  between  the  Antonine  era  and 
the  time  of  Severus,  a  great  fire  devastated  the  central  dis- 
tricts of  Rome.  The  restorations  effected  by  Severus  and  the 
popular  policy  of  his  successors  are  commemorated  in  the 
Arch  of  Severus,  the  Portico  of  the  Pantheon,  and  the  huge 
ruins  of  the  Baths  of  Caracalla.  The  defensive  power  of  the 
Roman  nation  then  became  gradually  weaker  and  weaker, 
till  in  sixty  years  after  the  time  of  Caracalla,  Aurelian  com- 
menced the  sad  task  of  home  fortification.  His  walls,  which 
were  completed  a  hundred  years  later  by  Honorius,  still  sur- 
round the  greater  part  of  Rome.  During  these  hundred 
years  the  power  of  the  Constantinian  rule,  of  which  the  great 


6  ANCIENT   ROME. 

Ijasilicii  and  arch  remain  monuments,  and  the  warlike 
coiiraf^e  of  Diocletian  revived  for  a  time  the  imperial  spirit  at 
Rome. 

The  last  and  most  familiar  of  the  monuments  which  follow 
the  transfer  of  ])Ower  from  Kome  to  Constantinople  is  the 
Column  of  Phocas  in  the  Forum,  erected  when  three  centuries 
of  desolation  had  followed  the  grandeur  of  Constantiue  and 
his  dynasty. 

The  Vatican  Hill  and  the  northern  end  of  the  Transtiberine 
district  were  not  inclosed  within  walls  till  the  time  of 
Pope  Leo  IV.  He  undertook  in  a.d.  848  the  inclosure  of  St. 
Peter's  and  the  Vatican  Hill,  thus  forming  that  district  into 
a  se])arate  town,  which  was  named  after  the  Pope  Civitas 
Leoniana.  The  western  wall  of  this  inclosure  has  been  traced 
by  its  ruins  in  the  garden  of  the  Vatican  palace.  After  the 
successive  destructions  and  minor  repairs  of  the  tenth,  eleventh, 
twelfth,  and  thirteenth  centuries,  in  1527  the  architect  San 
Gallo  was  employed  to  erect  huge  bastions  on  the  wall  of 
Rome,  which  he  placed  chiefly  between  the  Porta  Ostiensis 
and  the  Porta  Ai)i)ia.  In  1628  Pope  Urban  VIII.  restored 
the  walls  on  the  left  bank,  and  subsequently,  in  1(342,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  erect  the  walls  which  now  stand  between  the  Porta 
Portese  and  the  Porta  Cavallegieri,  where  the  arms  of  that 
Pope  are  still  affixed  to  the  walls.  This  was  the  final  important 
addition  to  the  main  walls  of  the  city. 

III. — Roman  Building  and  Architecture. 

The  earliest  form  of  Roman  masonry,  consisting  of  rectan- 
gular tufa  blocks  ])laced  in  layers  alternately  parallel  to  and 
acr*^ss  the  line  of  the  wall,  so  as  to  bind  the  mass  together 
firmly,  may  be  best  seen  in  the  ancient  fragments  of  the 
Servian  wall  on  the  Aventine  and  the  Quirinal  Hills  and  in 
the  ruins  on  the  western  slope  of  the  Palatine.  This  kind  of 
building  is  the  natural  product  of  the  peculiar  parallel 
cleavage  in  the  tufaceous  rocks  of  the  Roman  hills.  In  those 
parts  of  the  Campagna  where  basalt  rather  than  tufa  be- 
comes the  usual  material,  as  at  Prseneste,  we  find  polygonal 
masonrv'.  One  specimen  of  a  mode  of  construction  anterior 
to  the  introduction  of  the  arch  into  Roman  masonry  is  left  us 
at  Rome.     This  is  the  vault  of  the  old  well-house  near  the 


INTRODUCTION. 


Ca])itol  called  the  Mamertine  Prison,  where  we   find  over- 
lapping  horizontal  blocks 
of  stone  which  originally 


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Fig.  1— Tuscan  Order. 


met  in  a  conical  roof,  but     "fi  ^ 

are  now  truncated  and 
cai)j)ed  by  a  mass  of  stones  cramped 
together  with  iron.  That  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  arch  was  known  in  the 
regal  period  of  Rome  is  shown  by 
the  great  arch  of  the  Cloaca  Maxima. 
But  no  arches  remain  of  so  earlv  a 
date  which  are  not  subterranean,  and 
it  is  not  likelv  that  the  arch  was  used 

ft' 

in  the  earl}-  temples  at  Rome.  These 
were,  as  we  learn  from  Vitruvius, 
constructed  in  the  so-called  Tuscan 
style,  which  was  the  Italian  contem-  A 
porary  of  the  Greek  Doric.  It  is  Ll 
possible  that  the  columns  in  the  walls 
of  S.  Maria  in  Cosmedin,  which  are 
placed  at  unusual  distances  from  each  other,  may  have  been 
an  imperial  restoration  of  the  Temple  of  Ceres,  after  the  old 
Tuscan  fashion  (Fig.  1).  The  next  modification  of  architec- 
tural style,  which  is  usually  called,  from  the  general  influence 
of  the  Greek  colonists  on  Latin  art,  the  Tusco-Doric  order, 
may  be  seen  in  the  lowest  range  of  columns  and  bases  in  the 
Theatre  of  Marcellus.  The  shaft  of  these  columns  is  much 
more  slender  than  in  the  Grecian  Doric,  and  only  partially 
fluted,  if  at  all ;  while  a  quarter-round  is  substituted  for  the 
echinus  of  the  capital  (Figs.  2  and  3).  The  position  of  the 
triglyphs  and  the  proportions  of  the  cornice  were  also  much 
changed,  and  the  whole  effect  became  less  massive  and  bold 
than  that  of  the  Tuscan  temples. 

The  ancient  Tuscan  arrangement  of  the  interior  of  temples 
remained  after  this  modification  of  their  columns  and  capitals. 
The  three  ruins  which  now  occupy  the  most  prominent  place 
at  the  northern  end  of  the  Forum,  the  Temples  of  Saturn,  of 
Concord,  and  of  Vespasian,  all  retain  the  plan  called  prostylos 
by  Vitruvius.  The  Temple  of  Concord  is  especially  remarkable 
for  the  union  of  a  broad  Tuscan  cella  with  a  narrow  Greek 
portico.     An  alteration  peculiarly  Roman  was  made  in  the 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


cella  of  the  Greek  temple. 


Instead  of  surrounding  this  part 


f- 

•K 

Fig.  3.— R(»ma.\  Doric. 

rows  of  columns,  the  Romans  clothed  it 
with  pilasters,  thus  introducing  the  mode 
of  construction  deservedly  stigmatized  by 
Vitruvius,  under  the  name  ^jseudoperip- 
teral  (Fig.  4).  This  may  be  seen  in  the 
building  commonly  called  by  the  name  of 
the  Temple  of  Fortuna  Virilis  at  Rome.^ 
The  Greek  Ionic  order  became  known 
and  employed  by  the  Romans  early  in  the 
third  century  B.C.  The  Tomb  of  Scipio 
Barbatus  shows  the  Ionic  volute  and  dentil 
mixed  with  the  Doric  tri glyph  and  gutta. 
The  Roman  alterations  in  the  Ionic  capital 
may  be  best  seen  in  the  pillars  of  the 
Temple  of  Saturn,  and  in  the  second  range 
of  columns  surrounding  the  Theatre  of 
Marcellus  and  the  Coliseum.     Specimens 

^  Engaged  cohmins  were  not  absolutely  un- 
known to  the  (ireeks.  They  occur  in  the 
choragic  monument  of  Lysierates,  the  Erech- 
theum,  and  elsewhere. 


hi 


INTRODUCTION.  9 

may  also  be  seen  in  the  basilica  of  S.  Lorenzo  fuori  le  Mura, 
and  in  the  church  of  Sta.  Maria  in  Trastevere,  which  have 
been  transferred  from  the  ancient  temples.  The  distinctive 
Roman  modification  was  the  position  of  the  volutes  diagonally 
instead  of  laterally  (Figs.  5  and  6). 

It  is  supposed  that  the  first  introduction  of  the  Greek 
Corinthian  order  into  Rome  was  brought  about  by  the 
barbarian  act  of  Sulla,  in  transporting  the  columns  of  the 
Temple  of  Zeus  from  Athens  to  the  Capitoline  Temple  of 


mmmmmi^^m^ 


JTn.iifiirrlriTmm 


Fig.  5.— Ionic. 


Fig.  6.— Debased  Ionic 
(FROM  THE  Temple  of  Saturn). 


Jupiter.  Of  the  remaining  specimens  of  this  order  in  Rome, 
the  portico  of  the  Pantheon  is  the  oldest.  In  that  building 
the  capitals  appear  somewhat  shorter  and  broader  than  in  the 
later  examples,  such  as  the  ruins  of  the  Temple  of  Castor  in 
the  Forum  (Fig.  7),  and  in  the  peristyle  of  Nerva's  Forum 
called  the  Colonnacce. 

The  Composite  capital,  for  it  can  hardly  be  called  an  order, 
as  there  is  nothing  in  the  entablature  or  the  base  to  distin- 
guish it  from  the  Corinthian,  was  formed  probably  under  the 
patronage  of  the  early  emperors.  The  earliest  instance  we 
have  of  it  now  extant  in  Rome,  is  in  the  Arch   of  Titus 


i> 


I 


10 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


(Fi^'.  8),  aud  there  are  only  three  other  ruins  where  it  is 
found.  These  are,  the  Arch  of  Septimius  Severus,  the  Arch 
of  the  Goldsmiths,  and  the  Baths  of  Diocletian,  at  Sta.  Maria 
de*;li  Anj^eli,  where  it  is  mixed  up  with  Corinthian  capitals. 
The  peculiar  combination  of  which  it  consists,  the  sui>erposi- 
tion  of  the  Ionic  volutes  uix)n  two  rin^s  of  Corinthian  acan- 
thus leaves,  is  not  generally  considered  a  very  haj)py  artistic 
design.  Hoi)e  says  of  it,  that  "instead  of  being  a  new 
creation  of  genius,  it  gave  evidence  of  poverty  to  invent  and 


M5»i_jM>ii>niiiiii»ttimntini 


■iiMjijiilii 


Fio.  7.— Corinthian  (from 
THK  Tkmplk  of  Castor). 


Fig.  8.— Composite  (from  the 
Arch  of  Titls). 


ignorance  to  combine,"  and  Fergusson  is  hardly  more  com- 
plimentary to  the  Roman  architects. 

But  though  we  must  deny  to  this  Roman  adaptation  of 
Greek  forms  the  credit  of  originality,  or  even  of  symmetrical 
design,  yet  its  rich  appearance  was  peculiarly  suited  to  the 
lavish  ornamentation  with  which  the  Roman  emperors  de- 
lighted to  trick  out  their  palaces  and  halls,  and  it  well  repre- 
sents to  us  the  character  of  the  Roman  imperial  architecture, 
with  its  indiscriminate  combination  of  mouldings  and  pro- 
fusion of  gaudy  detail. 


INTRODUCTION. 


11 


The  three  great  triumphal  arches  of  Titus,  Septimius 
Severus,  and  Constantine  at  Rome,  and  also  the  so-called 
Arch  of  Drusus,  are  decorated  with  an  unmeaning  and  foreign 
dress.  In  the  Arch  of  Constantine  alone,  the  columns  which 
stand  in  front  are  in  some  measure  justified  by  the  statues 
they  support. 

Of  the  minor  archways  at  Rome,  that  of  Gallienus  has 
Corinthian  pilasters  in  the  roughest  style  of  art,  the  Janus 
Quadrifrons  probably  had  rows  of  Corinthian  columns  between 
its  niches,  and  the  small  gateway  near  it  has  decorative 
pilasters  with  Composite  capitals.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Arch  of  Dolabella  on  the  Cselian,  which  has  a  single  line  as 
cornice,  and  the  Porta  S.  Lorenzo  are  examples  of  the  striking 
effect  of  a  simj^le  arch  without  Greek  ornament.  The  un- 
meaning pediments  and  tasteless  columns  with  which  most  of 
these  arches  are  adorned,  remind  us  of  Pope's  recipe  for  the 
front  of  a  villa,  "  Clap  four  slices  of  pilaster  on't ;  that,  laid 
with  Ints  of  rustic,  makes  a  front." 

Colossal  columns  were  as  genuine  a  creation  of  Imperial 
Rome  as  triumphal  arclies.  In  both  the  sculpture  had 
become  subordinate  to  the  pedestal.  The  idea  of  placing  a 
statue  upon  the  top  of  a  column  was  probably  unknown  to 
the  Greeks,  or  at  least,  never  carried  out  on  the  immense 
scale  of  the  two  great  Roman  Columns  of  Trajan  and  Marcus 
Aurelius.  It  must  not,  however,  be  forgotten,  that  the 
Column  of  Trajan  (and  probably  also  that  of  Marcus  Aure- 
lius) was  inclosed  wdthin  a  narrow  court,  and  that  the  bas- 
reliefs  were  intended  to  be  seen  from  the  roofs  and  windows 
of  the  surrounding  buildings. 

Some  of  the  most  characteristic  remains  of  the  Roman 
national  taste  in  architecture  are  the  Mausoleum  of  Hadrian 
(now  called  the  Castle  of  S.  Angelo),  and  the  Tombs  of 
Csecilia  Metella  and  of  the  Plautii.  The  ponderous  walls  of 
these  massive  and  indestructible  marvels  of  masonry  were 
essentiallv  Roman,  but  in  their  external  decorations  we  find 
a  strange  combination  of  foreign  designs.  The  Mausoleum 
of  Hadrian  was  dressed  up  with  an  array  of  pilasters,  columns, 
and  statues,  and  the  Mausoleum  of  Augustus  was  covered 
with  terraces  and  trees,  in  imitation  of  the  Temple  of  Belus 

at  Babylon. 

The  most  conspicuous  among  the  Roman  appropriations  of 


ill 


M 


12 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


foreign  monumental  designs  were  the  oriental  obelisks  which 
were  brought  from  Egypt,  and  erected  in  the  Circi  at  Rome 
and  in  front  of  some  of  the  buildings,  and  some  of  which  still 
stand  in  the  piazzas  of  modern  Rome.  The  remains  of  eleven 
of  these  have  been  found.  The  Komans  often  misused  them 
by  placing  them  alone,  and  not  following  the  Egyptian  method 
of  always  setting  them  in  pairs. 

The  huge  vaulted  arches  of  brick-work  and  concrete  which 
remain  in  the  Baths  of  Caracalla,  and  the  Basilica  of  Con- 
stantine,  and  the  massive  arches  of  the  Claudian  Aqueduct, 
are  the  glory  of  Roman  architecture.  For  the  Coliseum, 
astounding  as  are  its  durability  and  massive  grandeur,  is  not 
80  illustrative  of  the  special  Roman  development  of  the  use  of 
the  arch  and  of  brick- work  as  are  the  other  great  ruins  just 
mentioned.  We  see  embodied  in  them  the  indomitable  energy 
which  bridged  the  valleys  and  tunnelled  through  the  hills,  but 
which  possessed  no  eye  for  fine  proportion  of  outline  or  sym- 
metrical and  harmonious  combination  of  details.  Brickwork 
was  the  material  in  which  the  characteristic  Roman  ruins 
were  executed.  The  Coliseum  and  the  Theatre  of  Marcellus 
are  dressed  in  Greek  robes,  while  the  brick  arches  of  the 
aqueducts,  and  the  massive  structure  of  the  Baths  of  Caracalla 
reflect  the  peculiar  genius  and  character  of  the  Roman  imperial 
power. 


P.13. 


THE    PALATINE    KUINS. 


INDEX  TO  THE   PLAN. 


1.  Clivus  Victoiise, 

2.  Museum. 

3.  Water  reservoir. 

4.  Fragments  of  ruins. 

5.  Altar  of  Cal  <  inuji^. 

6.  Fragments  of  i  uiii. 

7.  Domus  Gelotij  na. 

8.  Graffiti  of  Ass,  etc. 

9.  Stadium  Palatinum. 

10.  Exedra. 

11.  Baths. 

12.  Palatine  Belvedere. 

13.  Imperial  Box  over  Circus. 

14.  Augustan  Palace,| 

15.  Ruin  called  the  Academy. 

16.  Triclinium. 

17.  Viridarium.  j 

18.  Peristylium.         I 

19.  Smaller  chamber^;. 

20.  Basilica.  i 

21.  Imperial  reception  hall. 

22.  Lararium. 

23.  Area  Palatina. 


24.  Fragment  of  ancient  ruin. 

25.  Clivus  Palatinus. 

26.  Porta  Mugionia. 

27.  Temple  of  Jupiter  Stator. 

28.  Walls  of  substruction. 

29.  Cryptoporticus. 

30.  Subterranean  passage. 

31.  Piscina. 

32.  House  of  Tiberius. 

33.  Well. 

34.  Unknown  ruins. 

35.  So-called  Temple  of  Jupiter 

Victor. 

36.  Uncertain  basements.  Scala 

Caci. 

37.  So-called  Auguratorium. 

38.  Soldiers'  quarters. 

39.  Garden. 

40.  41.  Staircase  and  substruc- 

tions of  Caligula's  build- 
ings. 
42.  Ruins  of  lavacrum  of  Helio- 
gabalus. 


^  >         Path  to  be  followed. 


i 


i^  1 


^  U-x. 


-■ 


^.l 


•-Ms  El 


■■•''•■■'rt-'iX'' 


1 


CHAPTER  I. 
the  palatine  hill  and  the  velia. 

The  Palatine. 

The  entrance  to  the  ruins  on  the  Palatine  Hill  is  now  made 
through  a  gateway  ojjposite  to  the  Church  of  S.  Teodoro. 

The  Museum  in  which  are  collected  the  various  fragments 
of  statuary  and  antiquarian  interest  which  have  been  found  in 
the  late  excavations  on  the  Palatine  has  been  placed  in  the 
ground-floor  of  the  casina  which  stands  near  the  Clivus 
Victoriae. 

Porta  Romanula. — The  ancient  road  at  the  N.E.  end  of 
the  Palatine  is  oveiTeached  and  arched  over  by  the  extensions 
of  the  Palatine  imperial  palace  built  by  Caligula,  under  which 
it  passes  to  the  site  of  the  ancient  Porta  Romanula/  Most 
of  the  chambers  on  the  left  were  probably  occupied  by  the 
guards  of  tlie  gateway,  and  the  graffiti  they  contain  are  of  a 
character  which  confirms  this  supposition. 

Outside  the  Porta  Romanula  the  road  bends  round  the  hill 
along  the  side  which  looks  towards  the  Capitoline.  The  first 
ruins  to  be  seen  under  the  slope  of  the  hill  here  are  the  remains 
of  a  portico  of  the  republican  era,  constructed  of  tufa  with 
reticular- work  facings.  This  portico  has  been  supposed  to  be 
possibly  that  which  Lutatius  Catulus  built  in  the  Area  Flac- 
ciana  after  his  victory  over  the  Cimbri,  mentioned  by  Valerius 
Maximus  and  by  Cicero  as  being  near  his  house.^     But  there 

^  Festus,  p.  262,  "infimo  clivo  Victorise." 

^  A  descent  from  this  point  of  the  hill  to  the  right  to  the  Forum  has 
been  observed  by  a  French  architect.  See  "Le  Forum  Romain,"  par 
Dutert;  Levy,  Paris,  1876,  p.  14.  "Guida  del  Palatino,"  p.  71. 
Valerius  Maximus,  vi.  3,  1.     Cic.  pro  Dom.  38.  102. 


14 


ANCIENT    ROME. 


seems  to  be  nothing  left  which  can  identify  this  ruin  with  the 
-Porticus  Catuli. 

Area  Flacciana—Beyond  this  so-called  Area  Flacciana 
tUe  line  ot   walls   presents   some  projecting  masses,  which 
appear  to  be  built  upou  the  ancient  substructions  of  towers 
such  as  would  be  formed  in  fortified  buildings.    A  great  part 
ot  the  walls  erected  here  in  imperial  times  were  built  of  c(m. 
Crete  framed  and  sui>i)orted  by  beams  and  plunks  of  timber. 
Ihese  beams  having  now  rotted  awav,  have  left  their  impres- 
sions  on  the  concrete,  and  hence  the  vertical  and  horizontal 
grooves  which  form  so  conspicuous  a  feature  in  these  walls 
1  wo  remarkable  fragments  of  antiquitv  must  be  noticed  here 
The  first  IS  a  conical  aperture  in  the  *side  of  the  hill  which 
supplied  a  cistern  placed  below  with  water.     Such  cisterns 
are  to  l>e  found  elsewhere  in  the  hills,  and  mav  be  supposed 
to  have  been  constructed  previous  to  the  great  supplies  of 
water  having  been  brought  by  the  aqueducts. 

At  the  western  corner  of*the  hill  opposite  to  the  Janus 
guadrifrons  stands  a  large  fragment  of  the  most  ancient  walls 
of  the  Palatine.  It  is  constructed  of  masses  of  tufa,  taken 
from  the  hill  behind  it,  and  roughly  laid  together  without 
cement  or  mortar.  These  stones  apj^ear  to  have  been  spht 
troin  the  rock,  and  not  cut  by  chisel,  which  shows  the  antiquity 
of  their  construction.  The  wall  of  Eomulus  is  the  name  bv 
which  this  and  the  other  ].ortions  of  massive  tufa  walls  round 
the  Palatine  are  now  known.-  They  undoubtedly  belon<^  to 
the  earliest  defences  of  the  Palatine  settlement  "^ 

Archaic  Altar— Not  far  from  this  ancient  fragment  of 
wab  stands  a  most  interesting  relic  of  primitive  superstition 
an  altar  of  travertine  stone  cut  in  archaic  fashion,  with  volutes 
resembhng  those  in  the  well-known  tomb  of  Scipio  in  the 
Vatican  Museum.   The  inscription  on  this  altar  is  as  follows  • 

SEI  DEO  SEI  DEIV.E  SAC.  C.  SEXTIU8,  C.  F.  CALVINUS,  PR  DE 
SENATI     SENTENTIA     RESTITUIT.       This     is    SUpposed    bv    SOme 

antiquarians  to  be  the  altar  mentioned  by  Cicero  and  Livy  as 
having  been  erected  in  consequence  of  the  voice  heard  before 
the  Gallic  invasion  predicting  disa.strous  times.' 

But  that  altar  is  said  to  have  been  placed  above  the  Temple 
of  Vesta  at  the  end  of  the  Nova  Via,  which  was  on  the  other 

'  Cic.  de  Div.  i.  45 ;  ii.  32.     Liv.  v.  32. 


L 


THE   PALATINE    HILL   AND   THE  VELIA. 


15 


side  of  the  Palatine.  This  mode  of  dedication  to  an  unknown 
Deity  was  not  uncommon  at  Rome,  and  is  mentioned  by  Cato 
and  commented  upon  by  Gellius.  The  form  of  the  word 
DEiv^  shows  that  the  inscription  belongs  to  the  earher  Latin.' 

C.  Sextius  Calvinus,  who  restored  the  altar,  was  probably 
son  of  C.  S.  Calvinus,  the  Consul  of  a.u.c.  630,  and  was  the 
competitor  of  C.  Servilius  Glaucia  in  the  year  654.^ 

Germalus.— The  north-western  end  of  the  Palatine  Hill, 
round  which  we  have  been  passing,  was  the  spot  with  the  name 
Germalus  which  Varro  tells  us  was  given  to  it  in  memory  of 
the  (germani)  twin  brothers,  Romulus  and  Remus  having  been 
cast  ashore  here  from  the  Tiber  waters,  and  suckled  by  the 
wolf.  How  far  the  district  called  Germalus  extended  over  the 
hill  is  not  known.  Cicero  speaks  of  a  house  belonging  to  Milo 
which  stood  upon  the  Germalus,  and  Livy  says  that  a  wolf  ran 
through  the  Vicus  Tuscus  and  the  Germalus  to  the  Porta 
Capena.^  The  bronze  figure  of  the  wolf  and  twins  now  in  the 
Capitoline  Museum  is  said  by  Flaminius  Vacca,  who  wrote  in 
1594,  to  have  been  found  at  no  great  distance  from  this  place, 
and  Urlichs  has  shown  that  this  figure  is  probably  the  one 
dedicated  by  the  Ogulnii,  gediles  in  b.c.  297.^ 

Further  southwards  at  the  foot  of  the  slope  we  come  to 
another  fragment  of  the  most  ancient  wall  of  the  Palatine 
settlement.  This  building  appears  to  stand  at  right  angles  to 
the  line  of  the  hillside,  and  it  was  therefore  supposed  at  first  to 
have  belonged  to  a  wall  traversing  the  intermontium  or  depres- 
sion which  crosses  the  Palatine  Hill  from  this  point  to  the  Arch 
of  Titus,  and  to  have  confirmed  the  opinion  of  those  archaeolo- 
gists who  confine  the  extent  of  Roma  quadrata  to  the  north- 
western end  of  the  hill.  But  subsequent  exploration  has  shown 
that  this  wall  does  not  pass  along  the  intermontium,  but  turns 
off  at  a  right  angle.  Another  fragment  of  the  most  ancient 
wall  was  found  in  1860,  according  to  Lanciani,  under  the  Villa 
Mills,  showing  that  the  wall  of  Roma  quadrata  passed  round 
the  whole  hill,  and  not  only  round  the  north-western  end. 

Domus   Gelotiana. — Close  to  the  fragment  of  ancient 


Frag. 


of  early  Latin,  p.  167, 


^  Corp.  Inscr.  i.  632.     Wordsworth 
410. 

^  Cic.  de  Orat.  ii.  249. 

'  Cic.  atl  Att.  iv.  3,  3.     Liv.  xxxiii.  26. 

'  Vacca,  Memorie  3,  Urlichs,  Rheinisches  Museum,  1846 


16 


ANCIENT  ROME. 


wall  we  come  to  a  series  of  chambers  excavated  first  in  1857, 
and  afterwards  cleared  and  rendered  more  accessible  in  1869.' 
These  belonged  to  a  building  in  connection  with  this  part  of 
the  imperial  palace,  and  were  occupied  by  soldiers  of  the  em- 
peror's guard,  as  may  be  seen  by  examination  of  the  inscrip- 
tions left  on  the  walls.  The  traces  of  a  square  court,  sur- 
rounded with  a  portico,  one  granite  pillar  of  which  remains, 
and  on  the  side  of  this  court  towards  the  hill,  of  a  number 
of  chambers  arranged  on  each  side  of  a  semicircular  recess, 
are  the  main  features  of  this  ruin.  The  brickwork  supports 
which  appear  here  were  erected  by  Canina,  and  a  large  quantity 
of  remains  have  fallen  from  the  higher  levels  of  the  hill. 

The  inscriptions  which  are  most  remarkable  here  are  the 
following.     On  the  right-hand  wall  near  the  entrance  is  the 
name  HiLARUs,  followed  by  the  letters  mi.  v.  d.  n.,  which  have 
been  interpreted  to  mean  "  miles  veteranus  domini  iiostri,"  a 
veteran  soldier  of  our  Lord.    Numerous  other  inscriptions  with 
the  letters  v.  d.  n.  will  be  found  in  the  chamber  to  the  left  of 
the  central  recess.    One  of  these  in  the  triangular  room  records 
the  name  of  two  soldiers  who  belonged  to  the  foreign  troop  of 
Peregrin! :  bassus  et  saturus  pereg.'     Other  inscriptions 
allude  to  a  paedagogium,  or  training  school,  as  for  example, 
corinthus  exit  de  pedagooio.    Most  of  these  are  in  the  tri- 
angular rooms  behind  the  central  semicircular  recess,  or  in  the 
furthest  room  on  the  left  of  it.     In  this  last  is  to  be  seen  the 
figure  of  an  ass  turning  a  mill,  with  the  inscription,  labora 
aselle  quomodo  ego  laboravi  proderit  tibi.    But  the  most 
famous  of  these  graffiti  is  that  now  shown  in  the  Kircherian 
Museum  representing  the  crucified  ass,  with  the  title"  Alexa- 
menus  worshipping  his  god,"  which  was  taken  from  the  room 
on  the  right  of  the  central  semicircular  recess,  and  has  been 
the  subject  of  much  comment.     Another  record  of  the  same 
Alexamenus  was  found  here  in  1870,  in  which  he  is  called 
Ale.\amenus  fidelis.     From  these  two  inscriptions  it  has  been 
supposed  that  Alexamenus  was  a  Christian  soldier,  in  mockerv 
of  whose  devotions  his  brother  soldiers  drew  the  caricature  of 
an  ass. 

Stadium.— Passing   now   beneath  the  Villa  Mills  which 

^  See  Henzen,  in  Bull.  dell.  Inst.,  1867.  The  name  of  Domus 
Oielotiana  has  heen  jjiven  to  this  ruin  by  Visconti.  See  '•  Rome  and 
the  CauiiMigna,"  p.  181. 


THE   PALATINE   HILL   AND    THE   VELIA. 


17 


occupies  the  site  of  the  library,  and  the  Temple  of  Apollo,  built 
by  Augustus,  we  turn  to  the  left  up  the  slope  of  the  hill 
and  find  a  large  open  space  in  which  the  later  excavations 
have  disinterred  the  relics  of  a  stadium,  consisting  of  a  curved 
series  of  walls,  surrounding  the  foundation  of  a  meta  or  goal, 
and  two  lines  of  bases  of  columns,  which  ran  along  the  sides 
and  the  end  of 
the  stadium.^ 

A  large  build- 
ing in  the  form 
of  a  semicircu- 
lar recess  or 
exedra,  a  stand 
for  viewing  the 
races,  is  still 
partially  re- 
maining, and 
also  the  foun- 
dation of  two 
entrances  on  the 
southern  side. 
That  this  was 
a  stadium  con- 
nected with  the 
imperial  palace 
is  evident  from 
its  shape  and  its 
length,  which 
corresponds  to 
that  laid  down 
by  the  ancient 
writers  as  the 
^proper  length 
of  a  stadium  for  foot-races.  The  large  exedra  at  the 
southern  side  contains  on  the  ground-floor  a  vast  central 
saloon,  and  two  side  rooms.  A  few  decorative  paintings  of 
the  latest  and  least  valuable  kind  of  art  remain  on  the  walls, 

^  The  marks  on  the  bricks  found  here  bear  the  names  of  Clonius 
and  Ermetes,  freedmen  of  the  Gens  Domitia,  but  the  walls  which 
stand  near  the  meta  are  constructed  of  materials  which  show  that  they 
are  of  later  date,  and  belong  to  the  Restoration  of  Theodoric,  a.d.  500. 

O 


■ 

r 

^HI^^j^^^^H 

w  ^^^^ 

-pj"-' 

^j^Hft  >    '^~:1 

^^^Sl 

sp^^-. 

wilk     f^K^jj^l 

liBii 

^HHjj^^Hj^^B  ^'flB^H^^^^I 

B^^^ 

^^S^^ 

■fflwJ^fl 

W~'                      K 

^     •      •••Tiai^       -^^HB 

^^^^k"  ^Ssi^^l 

k 

-^    ,  y"iiTn-ii«iiH  .  !•■?_'•  ■"U 

1^^^^^ 

'r 

.        "Tl^^fiiii     ^C^Ji^                  ^^^^^^^^^1 

u^H^^^^fea^^ 

-=sW^^- A(caSi 

ss^^^MT'^''                ^^^H 

^i^^^^^HHI 

^^^^9                  ^^^H 

^'k^^^^^H 

E^^kE^L.            -jtf^^^^H 

'A^^^^l 

^^Kgi^^Sg^jt 

BMH^^^M^.^^y^^^H 

^^KSiwM 

^^^HH^^H 

|p_|_^_ 

^^^^H^^^H 

^^^^H 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^1 

^^^H 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^1 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H 

^M 

^^^^^^^^H 

^^^^^^^^^^^1 

..•x" ;   ,-_  r^.  ,-^^1 

H^l^l^^l^^^l 

HHII^^^^HHHIHI 

The  Palatine  Stadium  from  the  S.W.  End. 


18 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


among  which  are  some  geographical  and  astronomical  figures. 
A  coat  of  foreign  marbles  covered  the  walls,  and  the  pave- 
ment was  of  marble.  This  part  of  the  Palatine  buildings  was 
probably  occupied  by  the  Frangipani  in  the  thirteenth  century. 
The  right-hand  chamber  was  apparently  without  decoration, 
but  in  the  one  on  the  left  the  wall  is  ornamented  with  fresco 
paintings  of  elegance,  and  the  pavement  is  of  fine  mosaic. 
A  list  of  names  with  numbers  attached  to  them,  which  seem 
to  be  those  of  combatants  in  the  stadium,  was  found  am  oner 
the  graffiti  here. 

The  upi)er  level  of  the  semicircular  exedra  was  filled  by  a 
large  chamber,  the  side  of  which,  towards  the  stadium,  was 
occupied  by  a  line  of  granite  columns,  fragments  of  which 
remain  in  the  arena  below.  The  interior  of  this  chamber  was 
also  ornamented  with  marbles  and  statues.  Some  statues  of 
Amazons  and  the  Hercules  of  Lysippus  now  in  the  Pitti 
at  Florence,  were  found  here  according  to  Vacca,  who  wrote 
at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  brickwork  and  the 
architecture  of  this  exedra  seem  to  be  of  the  time  of  Hadrian, 
and  the  bricks  found  here  with  labels  give  the  date  of  a.d. 
134,  the  third  consulship  of  Ursus  Servianus.  The  portico 
which  ran  round  the  stadium  was  ajjparently  of  later  con- 
struction than  the  exedra,  as  the  date  on  its  bricks  seems  to 
refer  to  TertuUus  Scapula,  Consul  in  a.d.  195,  in  the  reign  of 
Septimius  Severus,  under  whom  great  alterations  and  exten- 
sions were  carried  out  in  this  wing  of  the  palace. 

The  vast  ruins  which  remain  on  the  south  of  the  stadium 
belong  chiefly  to  the  works  of  Septimius  Severus,  and  have 
long  been  celebrated  as  the  most  picturesque  among  the 
Csesarean  relics.  The  curved  wall  behind  the  great  exedra,  and 
the  numerous  passages  and  chambers  which  stand  near  it,  seem 
to  have  belonged  to  a  bath  supplied  with  water  from  the 
branch  of  the  Aqua  Claudia,  four  arches  of  which  are  still 
remaining  on  the  hill  below,  opposite  to  the  church  of 
S.  Gregorio.  This  was  a  branch  from  the  Claudian  aqueduct, 
and  crossed  the  valley  from  the  opposite  Cselian  Hill. 

Palatine  Belvedere. — The  lofty  wing  of  the  palace, 
which  extends  along  the  slope  of  the  Circus  Maximus,  opposite 
to  the  Aventine,  is  reached  by  a  modem  bridge  from  the  ruins 
adjoining  the  stadium.  From  the  top  of  this  huge  ruin  a 
splendid  view  of  the  Cselian,  the  Aventine,  and  the  Alban  Hills 


iy.' 


I 


< 

■«! 
wl 

■< 

o 

o 
a 

H 

a 

H 

a 


< 

< 


K  < 
Eh  B 


Si 

H 

o 
a 

H 
Z 

o 

< 
m 

'•^ 

a 
X 

H 

fa 
O 


20 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


may  be  seen,  and  the  spot  has  been  sometimes  called  the 
Palatine  Belvedere.  What  the  exact  nature  of  the  build- 
ings placed  upon  these  lofty  ranges  of  arches  was  cannot  be 
easily  determined,  but  they  correspond  in  some  degree  to 
the  arched  walls  of  the  side  between  the  arches  of  Titus 
and  Constantine  and  to  those  of  the  palace  of  Caligula 
near  the  Capitoline,  and  were  mainly  intended  to  raise  the 
imi)erial  saloons  to  the  higher  level  of  the  northern  end 
of  the  hill.  Spartianus  in  his  "Life  of  Sever  us  "  says  that 
Severus  bestowed  particular  pains  on  this  part  of  the  Palatine 
Hill  in  order  to  make  it  the  chief  entrance  to  the  imperial 
palace,  and  that  his  reason  for  so  doing  was  to  produce  an 
impression  of  his  magnificence  upon  his  African  fellow- 
countrymen,  who,  when  visiting  Rome,  would  naturally  enter 
at  this  point  by  the  Porta  Capena,  which  was  the  gate  just 
below.  The  Septizonium  was  an  im^xirial  building  near  this 
part  of  the  hill  probably  built  by  Severus,  views  of  the  ruins 
of  which  are  to  be  seen  in  the  books  of  the  topographers  Du 
Perac  and  Garrucci  who  wrote  before  the  end  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  when  the  Septizonium  was  pulled  down  by  Sixtus 
the  Fifth.'  At  the  western  end  of  the  long  and  lofty  ruin, 
and  near  the  end  of  the  stadium,  is  a  projecting  portion  of 
ruined  chambers  which  has  been  generally  supposed  to  have 
contained  the  emperor  s  private  pulvinar,  or  box  whence  he 
viewed  the  games  in  the  Circus  Maxim  us.  But  the  construc- 
tion of  this  edifice,  including  its  round  tower,  seems  to  be  of 
a  very  late  style,  and  it  may  have  been  built  as  late  as  the 
sixteenth  century. 

We  now  return  along  a  modern  path  which  runs  under  the 
grounds  of  the  Villa  Mills  towards  the  Domus  Gelotiana 
described  above.  A  curved  terrace  occupies  the  upper  edge 
of  the  hill,  along  which  probably  ran  a  portico  commanding 
a  view  over  the  southern  part  of  Rome  and  the  Trastevere. 
At  the  back  of  this  are  the  buildings  called  the  Villa  Mills 
from  their  former  possessors,  now  occupied  by  a  nunnery,  and 
therefore  inaccessible  to  the  public.  In  the  year  1777,  the 
plan  of  the  ancient  buildings  which  stood  here  was  explored 
by  Rancoureuil.  They  consist  of  a  court  surrounded  with 
columns  and  suites  of  chambers.     Parts  of  the  main  front 

»  Hist.  Aug.  Severus,  19,  24.     See  "Rome  and  the  Canipagna," 
p.  180. 


THE   PALATINE   HILL   AND   THE  VELIA. 


21 


looking  towards  the  circus  remained  till  the  year  1827.  The 
brickwork  of  these  ruins  has  induced  Cav.  Rosa  to  assign 
them  to  the  Augustan  Age  and  to  call  them  Domus  Augustana.* 

Academia  and  Bibliotheca. — Passing  back  again  by 
the  ruins  called  the  Domus  Gelotiana  as  before  described,  we 
turn  to  the  right  and  ascend  the  side  of  the  hill.  On  the 
higher  level  at  this  point  are  the  ruins  of  two  buildings  to 
which  the  names  of  Academia  and  Bibliotheca  have  been 
given  by  Rosa.  In  one  of  these  the  remains  of  semicircular 
ranges  of  seats  and  a  platform  have  been  supposed  to  be 
recognizable,  and  here  may  have  taken  place  the  recitations 
and  discussions  mentioned  by  Pliny  as  constantly  kept  up  in 
the  imperial  palace.^ 

Behind  these  rooms  stand  the  ruins  of  a  portico,  built  upon 
substructions  of  an  earlier  period,  with  Corinthian  columns 
of  cipollino,  probably  forming  the  side  of  a  small  courtyard. 
Here  it  may  be  seen  through  an  opening  in  the  ground  to 
what  a  depth  the  substructions  of  this  part  of  the  Palatine 
buildings  descend  into  the  depression  or  intermontium  which 
originally  separated  the  two  parts  of  the  hill,  and  was  filled 
up  by  the  Flavian  emperors. 


JEdES    PuBLICiE. 

We  now  enter  the  range  of  reception  rooms  commenced 
by  Vespasian  when  he  destroyed  Nero's  golden  house,  and 
completed  by  Vespasian  and  his  sons,  Titus  and  Domitian, 
at  the  same  time  with  the  Coliseum.^  These  are  raised  on 
gigantic  constructions  of  opus  quadratum  to  the  level  of  the 
Palatine  Hill.  Many  stamps  on  the  bricks  found  here  seem 
to  show  that  the  buildings  were  finished  by  Domitian. 

Triclinium. — We  enter  at  the  back  of  the  triclinium 
or  dining  hall,  at  the  end  of  which  is  a  semicircular  apse, 
possibly  intended  for  the  emperor's  table  when  he  dined 
here.  The  form  of  the  room  corresponds  to  Vitruvius'  de- 
scription of  the  proper  arrangements  for  a  triclinium.  Very 
little  of  the  original  decoration  remains,  except  two  granite 
columns,  of  which  there  were  originally  sixteen,  and  a  portion 

^  See  "  Rome  and  the  Campagna,"  pp.  174,  200. 

2  Plin.  En.  I.  13. 

=*  See  '*  The  Journal  of  Philologj^"  Cambridge,  1869,  vol.  ii.  p.  89. 


22 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


of  beautiful  pavement  composed  of  porphyry,  serpentine,  and 
giallo  antico.  It  is  possible  that  this  may  be  the  triclinium 
in  which  Statins  dined  at  Domitian's  table,  and  of  the  marble 
decorations  and  spacious  size  of  which  he  speaks  in  the  fourth 
book  of  his  "  Silvse.'* ' 

Near  the  apse  of  this  room  an  opening  in  the  ground  leads 
down  to  some  subterranean  rooms  which  formerly  belonged 
to  a  private  house  situated  in  the  depression  of  the  hill,  and 
afterwards  covered  over  by  the  Flavian  emperors.  The  brick- 
work in  this  house  seems  to  be  of  the  later  republican  period, 
and  the  walls  retain  decorations  of  the  best  style. 

These  decorative  paintings  have,  of  course,  suffered  ver\' 
much  from  damp  and  neglect,  and  all  the  principal  features 
of  the  house  have  been  destroyed  by  the  substructures  of  the 
Flavian  triclinium.  The  name  of  Bagni  di  Li  via  was  long 
used  in  connection  with  this  spot  by  the  ciceroni. 

Nymphseum. — Returning  to  the  upper  level,  we  find,  at 
the  side  of  the  triclinium,  the  remains  of  a  nymphaeum  or  viri- 
darium,  consisting  of  an  elliptical  basin  and  fountain  of 
marble,  with  niches  for  statues  and  bas-reliefs,  and  ledges  for 
ornamental  flowers  and  plants.  On  the  western  side  of  the 
nymphceum  a  garden-house  was  built  by  the  Farnese,  the 
portico  having  some  arabesques  and  some  paintings  by  a 
pupil  of  Taddeo  Zuccari,  representing  scenes  on  the  Palatine 
as  described  by  Virgil,  the  meeting  of  ^neas  and  Evander, 
and  the  monster  Cacus. 

Peristylium. — Beyond  the  triclinium  and  nymphaeum 
we  come  to  the  remains  of  the  largest  court  in  the  suite, 
which  is  called  the  peristylium,  occupying  a  space  of  140  by 
154  paces,  anciently  surrounded  by  a  portico  of  columns  of 
Porta  Santa  marble.  The  pavement  and  decorations  of  this 
quadrangle  would  seem  by  the  remains  to  have  been  most 
superb.  On  the  north-west  side  of  it  are  eight  rooms  of 
various  shapes,  arranged  symmetrically  round  an  octagonal 
central  chamber,  from  which  four  large  doors  open,  with  four 
corresponding  niches.  The  same  plan  of  rooms  was  carried 
out  also  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  peristylium,  as  was  shown 
by  some  excavations  in  1869.  These  were  waiting-rooms  and 
offices  of  various  kinds. 

»  Stat.  SUv.,  iv.  2,  26. 


THE   PALATINE  HILL  AND   THE  VELIA. 


23 


Atrium. — From  the  great  quadrangle  of  the  peristyhum 
we  pass  to  the  grand  audience  chamber,  the  position  of  which 
corresponds  generally  to  that  of  the  atrium  of  a  Roman  house. 
This  was  surrounded  by  a  portico  of  sixteen  Corinthian 
columns  of  foreign  marbles,  and  their  frieze  and  bases  were 
ornamented  in  a  most  elaborate  manner.  Eight  niches  with 
colossal  statues  of  basalt  are  said  by  Bianchini  to  have  stood 
round  this  court,  and  in  the  Tribune  at  the  southern  end  was 
placed  the  solium  augustale,  where  the  emperor  sat  on  grand 
occasions,  when  meetings  of  the 
senate  or  other  bodies  were  held 
here.  The  grand  entrance  of  this 
atrium,  which  looked  towards 
the  Arch  of  Titus,  was  adorned 
by  two  huge  columns  of  giallo 
antico,  and  the  threshold  stone 
consisted  of  a  mass  of  Greek 
marble  from  which  the  altar  in 
the  church  of  the  Pantheon  was 
made.  Many  of  the  marbles  from 
this  atrium  were  taken  by  the 
Farnese  to  Naples. 

Lararium.  —  On  the  right 
hand  of  this  reception  room  was 
a  building  which  shows  us  by  its 
position  and  shape  that  it  was 
the  lararium  or  shrine  of  the 
household  gods  where  sacrifices 
were  offered  on  solemn  occasions. 
The  remains  of  an  altar  were 
discovered  here. 

Basilica. — Opposite  to  the  lararium  are  the  foundations 
of  a  building  with  a  tribune  and  podium,  probably  used  by 
the  emperor  in  cases  such  as  those  described  by  Tacitus,  when 
imperial  constraint  was  exercised  over  a  legal  verdict.  Two 
rows  of  columns,  arranged  as  is  commonly  the  case  in  the 
basilicae,  and  a  portion  of  some  white  marble  railings  have 
been  found  and  preserved  here.^ 

The  name  BasiHca  Jovis  placed  here  by  Rosa  probably  refers  to  a 
pie  and  not  to  this  tribunal. 


Fig.  9.— Basilica  ;  Typical  Plax. 


24 


ANCIENT  ROME. 


THE   PALATINE   HILL  AND   THE  VELIA. 


25 


Along  the  side  of  this  tribunal  hall  and  that  of  the  peri- 
styliiim  and  its  adjoining  offices,  ran  a  long  portico  connecting 
the  whole  suite  of  halls  together. 

The  history  of  this  range  of  imperial  buildings  has  been 
very  prol^ably  supposed  to  be  as  follows.  Vespasian  intended 
them  to  be  used  in  support  of  his  revival  of  the  Augustan 
im])erial  policy,  and  that  a  name  such  as  ^des  Publicae, 
*'  National  Chambers,"  should  be  given  to  them. 

Accordingly,  all  these  rooms  have  the  character  of  public 
rather  than  private  buildings.  There  is  apparently  no  pro- 
vision for  domestic  life,  and  all  the  sections  of  the  edificiB 
seem  to  have  been  public  audience  or  banqueting  rooms. 

Porta  Mugionia. — In  front  of  the  last  described  buildings, 
which  we  have  called  the  basilica,  the  atrium,  and  the  lararium, 
is  an  oj^en  space,  on  the  right  hand  of  which,  looking  towards 
the  Arch  of  Titus,  a  fragment  of  the  earliest  walls  of  the 
Palatine  remains,  constructed  of  tufa  blocks  taken  from  the 
hill  underneath.  Beyond  this,  towards  the  Arch  of  Titus, 
are  the  paving  stones  of  an  ancient  road  which  was  probably 
the  approach  to  the  palace,  and  to  the  left  of  this  road  stand 
the  relics  of  one  of  the  most  ancient  gates,  the  Porta  Mugionia. 
This  is  described  by  Vacca  as  having  been  discovered  at  the 
end  of  the  sixteenth  century-,  when  it  was  still  decorated  with 
marble.     The  substructions  alone  now  remain. 

Jupiter  Stator. — Close  to  them  may  still  be  traced  the 
foundations  of  an  ancient  temple  which  can  be  no  other  than 
the  temple  of  Jupiter  Stator.  Solinus  says  that  the  house  of 
Tarquiuius  Priscus  was  near  the  Porta  Mugionia,  and  Livy 
states  that  Tarquinius  Priscus  lived  near  the  Porta  Mugionia. 
The  statue  of  Clcelia  is  also  said  by  Livy  to  have  stood  at  the 
top  of  the  Sacra  Via  which  was  near  the  Arch  of  Titus,  and 
this  statue  is  further  placed  by  Pliny  near  the  Porta  Mugionia.^ 
The  remains  of  the  temple  show  that  it  was  arranged  accord- 
ing to  the  cardinal  points  of  the  compass,  looking  north  and 
south.  On  the  foundation  stones  are  the  names  of  Philocrates 
and  Diodes,  masons  employed  in  building.  Three  old  inscrip- 
tions referring  to  the  worship  of  Jove  were  found  here,  and 
are  to  be  seen  in  the  Palatine  Museum. 


I  (( 


Rome  and  the  Campagna,"  p.  34. 


Near  the  ruins  of  this  Temple  of  Jupiter  Stator  we  find 
vast  blocks  of  substruction  which  belong  to  the  complicated 
ranges  of  buildings  occupying  the  north-eastern  end  of  the 
hill,  and  generally  believed  to  have  been  erected  by  Caligula. 
They  extend  along  the  side  of  the  hill  over  the  Forum,  and 
along  the  Clivus  Victoriae  by  which  we  entered,  to  the  point 
which  overlooks  the  Velabrum.  The  modifications  and  en- 
largements of  this  structure  during  the  ages  succeeding 
Caligula  have  rendered  it  a  confused  mass  of  ruins,  and  the 
walls  and  chambers  now  left  have  served  chieflv  as  substruc- 
tions  for  the  lofty  mansions  erected  upon  them  in  the  course 
of  ages. 

Cryptoporticus. — From  the  corner  of  these  ruins,  next 
to  the  Temple  of  Jupiter  Stator,  runs  a  long  arched  crypto- 
porticus or  covered  passage,  which  can  be  entered  from  the 
ruins  of  this  temple  or  from  below  nearer  to  the  modern 
entrance  gateway.  It  is  supjjosed  that  this  may  have  been 
the  cryptoporticus  in  w4iich,  as  we  learn  from  Josephus, 
Caligula  was  assassinated  on  his  return  from  the  ludi  palatini 
given  in  front  of  the  palace.  He  is  said  to  have  turned  off 
from  the  direct  line  of  entrance,  and  to  have  passed  into  this 
covered  wav  in  order  to  hear  and  see  some  youths  from  Asia 
performing.  The  assassins,  after  accomplishing  their  end, 
were  afraid  to  venture  through  the  front  of  the  palace,  and 
took  refuge  by  hiding  in  the  house  of  Germanicus.' 

House  of  Tiberius. — At  the  western  end  of  the  crypto- 
porticus a  house  has  been  disinterred  by  the  late  excavations, 
and  it  has  been  inferred  that  this  must  have  been  the  one 
called  by  Josephus  the  house  of  Germanicus.  Whatever 
name  may  now  be  assigned  to  it,  the  house  appears  to  have 
been  preserved  for  some  reason  from  destruction,  and  it 
seems  reasonable  to  conclude  that  some  connection  with  the 
earlier  history  of  the  imperial  Caesars  rendered  it  an  object 
of  veneration  and  care.  The  space  between  the  crypto- 
porticus, along  which  we  have  passed,  and  the  so-called 
basilica  of  the  palace,  is  supposed  to  have  been  called  the 
Area  Palatina,  where  those  who  came  to  call  upon  the  emperor 
had  to  wait."^  The  long  cryptoporticus  was  connected  with 
the  Flavian  public  buildings,  and  perhaps   also   previously 

^  Josephus,  Ant.  Jud.  xix.  1,  15. 
2  Gelhus,  N.  A.  xx.  1,  2. 


j 


26 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


with  the  house  of  Augustus,  by  a  branch  passage  which  runs 
off  from  the  long  cryptoporticus  at  right  angles,  towards  the 
back  of  the  atrium  and  lararium.  By  this  means  the  emperor 
could  pass  from  his  private  palace  to  the  public  audience  and 
banqueting  chambers  without  encountering  the  crowd  of  those 
who  were  waiting  for  audience  in  the  area.  In  this  area  was 
found,  in  1868,  the  pedestal  bearing  the  name  of  Domitius 
Calvinus,  now  placed  on  the  site  of  the  ruined  temple  which 
lies  farther  to  the  west,  and  which  we  shall  presently  mention. 

In  the  angle  of  the  cryptoporticus,  near  the  house  of 
Germanicus,  are  some  beautiful  remains  of  decorative  work, 
consisting  of  paintings  of  birds  and  winged  genii.  These 
have  been  much  injured  by  the  damp  exuding  from  a  piscina 
which  was  constructed  here  in  the  second  or  third  century  for 
the  keeping  of  fish,  and  which  can  be  entered  at  the  angle  of 
the  cryptoporticus.  Near  this  piscina  is  the  entrance  to  the 
building  called  the  house  of  Tiberius  or  Germanicus.  The 
construction  of  this  house  belongs  to  the  period  of  Roman 
architecture,  when  reticulated  work  formed  of  the  harder 
tufa,  with  small  diamond- shaped  stones,  but  without  brick- 
work, was  generally  used.  It  was  therefore  probably  built 
during  the  later  republican  times,  and  this  agrees  with  the 
supposition  that  it  was  the  work  of  Tiberius' s  father  or 
grandfather.  Suetonius  says  that  Tiberius  was  born  on  the 
Palatine.^  The  leaden  pipes  which  have  been  found  here 
bear  the  names  of  Julia,  the  daughter  of  Titus,  of  one  of 
Domitian's  freedmen,  and  also  one  of  Septimius  Severus's. 

The  house  is  divided  into  two  main  parts,  one  of  larger 
dimensions  for  receiving  guests  and  showing  hospitality,  and 
the  other  of  smaller- si  zed  rooms,  for  the  family.  The  vesti- 
bule is  an  arched  passage  adorned  with  paintings  on  the 
walls,  and  mosaic  pavement.  From  this  the  atrium  is  entered 
which  had  no  impluvium,  but  was  covered  entirely  with  a 
roof.  On  the  left  are  the  remains  of  an  altar  of  the  Lares, 
and  at  the  further  side  of  the  atrium  are  three  large  rooms, 
the  decorative  paintings  of  which  are  well  preserved. 

In  the  central  chamber  the  walls  were  divided  into  large 
compartments  by  columns  of  the  Composite  order,  adorned 
with  vine  leaves.     One  of  the  large  scenes  represented  here 

>  Suet.  Tib.  5. 


I 


THE   PALATINE   HILL   AND   THE  VELIA. 


27 


is  that  of  Polyphemus,  who,  after  having  crushed  his  rival 
Acis  with  an  enormous  rock,  turns  towards  Galatea,  who  is 
riding  on  a  hippocampus.  Another,  placed  above  the  frieze, 
is  a  picture  of  a  domestic  initiation  ceremony,  as  the  sacred 
taenia  which  is  being  presented  seems  to  prove.  A  third 
picture,  also  above  the  frieze,  shows  the  preparations  for  a 
sacrifice.  On  the  right  sits  a  female  figure,  with  a  mantle, 
and  a  faun  standing  before  some  utensils  for  ablution,  which 
are  being  lifted  by  a  second  female  figure,  while  the  sacri- 
ficial kid  is  being  brought  by  a  young  slave.  The  next 
picture  represents  a  row  of  houses  along  the  side  of  a  street 
or  road,  at  the  door  of  one  of  which  a  lady  with  her  maid  is 
knocking,  while  four  or  five  figures  present  themselves  above 
on  the  balconies.  The  last  picture  is  one  of  lo  hidden  in  the 
wood  of  Juno  at  Mycenae,  and  watched  by  Argos,  with  a 
figure  of  Hermes  descending  by  Jove's  command  to  rescue 
lo.     The  names  of  lo,  Argos,  and  Hermes  are  legible  here. 

The  room  on  the  left  hand  of  this  one  was  also  divided  by 
Composite  columns  adorned  with  vine  leaves,  and  by  a 
beautiful  frieze  of  giallo  antico.  The  lower  compartments 
have  no  figures,  but  the  upper  are  ornamented  with  designs 
of  genii  and  fantastic  flowers. 

The  room  on  the  right  hand  is  festooned  with  beautifully- 
designed  paintings  of  flowers  and  fruit.  From  these  festoons 
hang  the  emblems  of  various  divinities,  the  lyre  of  Apollo, 
the  timbrel  of  Cybele,  and  the  mystic  sieve  and  mask  of 
Bacchus.  These  seem  to  indicate  that  this  was  the  lararium 
of  the  house.  The  frieze  contains  a  number  of  landscape  and 
marine  views,  with  many  figures  of  men  and  animals  painted 
on  a  yellow  ground. 

At  the  north-western  corner  of  the  atrium  opens  a  fourth 
chamber,  which  may  perhaps  have  been  the  dining-room,  or 
triclinium,  decorated  with  trophies  of  sacred  emblems  of 
Diana  and  Apollo.  The  atrium  communicates  with  the  rooms 
at  the  back  of  the  house  and  with  a  small  courtyard  by  means 
of  a  corridor.  Some  of  these  rooms  were  used  as  baths,  others 
seem  to  have  opened  towards  the  street,  the  pavement  of 
which  still  remains  along  the  side  of  the  house. 

Palatine  Temples. — On  the  other  side  of  this  street  is 
an  entrance  to  the  subterranean  caves  which  have  been  cut 
in  this  part  of  the  hill.     These  hollows  were  mainly  stone 


iU 


i 


28 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


THE   PALATINE   HILL   AND   THE  VELIA. 


29 


quarries  and  wells.  A  puteal,  or  well-cover,  has  been  placed 
over  one  of  these  in  front  of  the  house  which  we  have  de- 
scribed. On  this  side  of  the  street  also  stand  the  foundations 
which  have  been  supposed  to  have  belonged  to  the  priests  of 
the  Temple  of  Jupiter  Propu^nator  on  the  Palatine,  some 
portions  of  the  fasti  of  whose  college  have  been  found  near 
the  Basilica  Julia  and  the  Marforio.^  There  is  also  the 
foundation  of  a  temple,  called  by  Kosa  the  Temj)le  of  Jupiter 
Victor,  to  be  seen  extending;  from  this  street  towards  the 
viridarium  of  the  sedes  publicse  of  Domitian  before  men- 
tioned, and  towards  the  edge  of  the  hill  which  looks  over  the 
Circus  Maximus.  These  ruins  consist  of  masses  of  tufa  work 
mixed  with  later  brickwork  of  the  Antouine  times.  The 
pedestal  with  the  name  of  Gnseus  Domitius  Calvinus  which 
is  placed  here  came,  as  we  have  said,  from  the  spot  called  the 
Area  Palatina  before  mentioned.  The  Notitia  also  places 
the  Temple  of  Jupiter  Victor  in  the  Area  Palatina,  and  for 
these  two  reasons  the  name  seems  to  be  wrongly  applied  to 
this  ruin.  We  can  trace  in  it  the  remains  of  a  building 
raised  on  a  basement  with  lofty  flights  of  steps,  alternating 
with  terraces  in  front,  towards  the  Circus  Maximus,  just  as 
we  find  at  Tibur  and  at  Tusculum  temples,  placed  on  the 
side  of  a  hill  with  high  flights  of  steps  ascending  to  them.^ 

Germalus  and  Scala  Caci. — The  remainder  of  the  upper 
level  of  this  nortli-western  corner  of  the  hill  is  occupied  by 
numerous  ruins  of  squared  tufa  stone,  which  evidently  be- 
longed to  some  of  the  most  ancient  and  venerated  relics  of 
Some.  Tliis  was,  no  doubt,  the  part  of  the  Palatine  to  which 
the  name  Germalus  was  given,  in  memory  of  the  Germani,  or 
twin-brothers,  Romulus  and  Remus,  who  were  cast  ashore  at 
its  foot  from  the  flooded  waters  of  the  Tiber.  Two  distinct 
edifices  have  been  disclosed  here,  from  the  first  of  which,  a 
rectangular  foundation  of  tufa  stones,  a  passage  bearing 
marks  of  great  antiquity  descends  towards  the  church  of 
S.  Anastasia  and  the  gas  works.  This  rectangular  ruin  has 
been  called  by  many  various  names,  such  as  the  Temple  of 
Jupiter  Feretrius,  the  Tugurium  Faustuli,  the  Temple  of  the 
Magna  Mater  Cybele,  or  of  the  Lares  Praestites.  The  descend- 
ing passage  to  the  Vallis  Murcia  has  been  supposed  to  be  the 

^  OrelH,  Inscr.  6057,  6058. 

^  See  *'  Rome  and  the  Canipagna,"  p.  178. 


Scala  Caci  mentioned  by  Solinus,^  and  it  is  possible  that  the 
legend  of  Cacus  refers  to  this  point  of  the  Palatine  next  to 
the  Aventine.  The  marks  on  the  stones  of  this  descent  are 
probably  only  quarry  marks.  No  brickwork  is  found  here  in 
the  lower  ruins,  nor  any  marbles.  But  in  the  mass  of  frag- 
ments there  are  remains  of  the  republican  and  of  the  imperial 
restorations  of  the  many  venerated  buildings  and  altars  which 
must  have  stood  upon  this  corner  of  the  hill.  On  the  right 
hand  of  this  descent  a  small  rectangular  court  was  discovered 
in  1872,  with  a  staircase  and  a  channel  for  water  running 
through  it.  This  is  thought  by  Lanciani  to  have  been  possibly 
the  fifth  Argean  Chapel,  which  was  somewhere  on  the  Ger- 
malus. A  statue  found  here  bears  some  marks  of  having 
represented  the  goddess  Cybele. 

Auguratorium. — The  most  conspicuous  ruin  at  this  end 
of  the  hill  is  a  mass  of  concrete  and  tufa  blocks,  apparently  of 
the  republican  era,  in  the  shape  of  a  rectangular  basement. 
This  has  the  form  of  a  temple  in  antis,  i.e.,  with  projecting 
side-walls,  and  faces  the  south,  commanding  a  view  over  the 
Aventine  and  Tiber  valley.  Cav.  Rosa  has  conjectured  that 
this  is  the  ruin  of  the  auguratorium  mentioned  by  the  Notitia 
as  situated  near  the  other  most  ancient  sacred  spots  on  the 
Palatine.  But  an  inscription  which  records  the  restoration 
of  the  auguratorium  by  Hadrian  does  not  support  this  view, 
as  the  work  now  remaining  is  mostly  republican.^  Lanciani 
thinks  that  this  may  have  been  the  ^des  Matris  Deum,  to 
which  the  statue  of  Cybele  found  as  before  mentioned  in 
front  of  it  belonged.^ 

At  the  back  of  the  so-called  auguratorium  we  find  a  long 
series  of  rooms  running  in  a  line  across  the  hill  from  north- 
west to  south-east,  which  have  vaulted  roofs,  and  are  similar 
to  those  found  below  in  the  domus  Gelotiana,  before  described. 
Cav.  Rosa  has  inferred  with  reason  from  this  and  from  the 
graffiti  in  these  rooms  that  they  formed  a  part  of  the  offices 
and  guard-rooms  attached  to  that  large  portion  of  the  palace 
which  lay  on  the  site  occupied  by  the  vast  masses  of  brick- 
work at  the  northern  comer  of  the  hill.  The  graffiti  to  be 
seen  here  are  chiefly  the  scribblings  of  soldiers'  names,  rude 
sketches  of  ships  and  animals,  and  combats  of  gladiators. 

1  Solinus,  i.  18.  ""  Orelli,  2286. 

^  Mart.  i.  70,  10  ;  Cybeles  Tholus. 


30 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


i 


Tiberiana  Domus. — Several  passages  of  the  Eoman  his- 
torians lead  us  to  conclude  that  the  suite  of  rooms  occupied 
by  Til)erius  were  situated  here.  It  was  from  the  Tiberiana 
Domus,  as  Tacitus  relates,  that  Vitellius  surveyed  the  con- 
flagration of  the  Temple  of  Jupiter  on  the  Capitol,  and  the 
engagement  between  his  adherents  and  the  Flavian  party 
under  Sabinus.  The  Tiberian  part  of  the  palace  was  also  that 
through  which,  as  Tacitus  also  tells  us,  Otho  descended  into 
the  Velabrum,  after  joining  Galba  at  the  sacrifice  in  the 
Temple  of  Apollo  on  the  Palatine.^  Afterwards,  the  Tiberiana 
Domus  became  the  favourite  residence  of  Antoninus  Pius  and 
Marcus  Aurelius,  and  it  was  probably  during  their  reigns  that 
the  library  which  we  find  mentioned  by  Gellius  was  established 
here.^ 

We  now  2>ass  through  the  ground  which  lies  over  the  re- 
mains of  the  Domus  Tiberiana,  and  descend  on  the  side  which 
looks  over  the  Forum,  by  a  long  staircase  through  the  immense 
masses  of  brickwork  and  concrete  which  are  said  to  have  been 
part  of  the  insane  additions  of  Caligula  to  the  imperial  palace. 
He  is  declared  to  have  made  a  passage  from  this  wing  of  the 
palace  to  the  back  of  the  Temple  of  Castor  below  in  the  Forum, 
in  order  that  he  might  appear  in  that  sacred  shrine  as  an  equal 
of  the  twin  gods  and  an  object  of  worship  when  the  Senate 
met  there.  He  is  also  said  to  have  joined  this  corner  of  the 
palace  with  the  Capitoline  Temple  of  Jupiter  by  a  huge  viaduct, 
which  passed  over  the  Basilica  Julia,  in  order  that  he  might 
thus  make  himself  the  contubernalis  of  Jupiter.^  Some  of  the 
substructions  of  this  viaduct  are  thought  to  be  seen  near  the 
back  of  the  church  of  S.  Maria  Liberatrice.  We  now  leave 
the  Palatine  by  the  Clivus  Victorise,  and  turn  to  the  arch  of 
Titus  and  the  ruins  which  stand  near  it. 

The  Velia. 

Near  the  arch  of  Titus  the  Palatine  Hill  runs  out  in  a 
gradually  sloping  ridge  north-eastwards  towards  the  Esquiline 
Hill.  On  one  side  of  this  ridge  the  ground  sinks  towards 
the  Forum  Romanum,  and  on  the  other  towards  the  Meta 

>  Tac.  Hist.  i.  27. 

=»  Hist.  Aug.  Ant.  Pius,  10;  Ant.  Phil.  6;  Gell.  xiii.  20. 

^  See  "  Rome  and  the  Canipaj^na,"  p.  160,  note  1. 


THE  PALATINE  HILL  AND   THE  VELIA. 


31 


I 


Sudans  and  the  Coliseum.  The  level  of  the  pavement  under 
the  arch  of  Titus  is  53  feet  above  the  ancient  pavement  of 
the  Forum.  It  seems  probable  that  this  outlying  part  of  the 
Palatine  was  that  which  bore  the  name  of  Velia. ^ 

Arch  of  Titus. — On  the  summit  of  the  ridge  above  de- 
scribed stands  the  arch  of  Titus,  one  of  the  best  preserved  of  the 
monuments  of  imperial  Rome.  The  central  part  of  the  original 
building  remains,  and  is  easily  distinguished  from  the  subse- 
quent travertine  restorations  i3y  being  constructed  of  Pentelic 
marble.  The  height  of  the  arch  is  49  feet  and  its  breadth 
42  feet.  Originally  there  were  two  fluted  columns  with  compo- 
site capitals  (see  Fig.  8,  j).  10)  on  each  side  of  both  faces  of  the 
arch,  the  two  inner  of  which  are  now  left,  while  the  two  outer 
are  modern.  Over  the  arch  are  two  bas-reliefs  of  Victory  which, 
though  much  inj  ured ,  are  still  remarkable  for  the  beauty  of  their 
outlines.  On  the  keystone  of  the  side  towards  the  Coliseum  is  a 
figure  of  Rome,  and  on  the  other  side  Fortune  with  a  cornucopia. 

The  most  interesting  parts  of  the  arch  have  fortunately 
been  preserved  by  their  protected  position  in  the  interior.  On 
each  side  is  a  magnificent  alto-relievo,  representing  the 
triumphal  procession  of  Titus  after  the  capture  of  Jerusalem. 
The  relievo  on  the  south  side  shows  a  number  of  persons 
carrying  the  spoils  of  the  Jewish  Temple.  The  golden  candle- 
stick, the  golden  table  for  shewbread,  and  the  trumpets  are 
clearly  recognizable.  These,  according  to  Josephus,^  among 
other  utensils  of  the  Jewish  Temple,  were  deposited  in  Ves- 
pasian's Temple  of  Peace.  The  procession  is  moving  towards 
a  triumphal  arch. 

In  the  northern  relief  (see  jd.  1)  the  emperor  is  represented 
in  his  triumphal  car,  drawn  by  four  horses,  and  surrounded 
by  his  guards  and  suite.  Victory  is  holding  a  crown  over  his 
head,  and  the  goddess  Roma  guiding  the  reins.  The  soffit  of 
the  arch  is  ornamented  with  richly-carved  rosettes  and  coffers, 
and  upon  the  crown  is  a  rather  undignified  representation  of 
the  apotheosis  of  the  emperor  astride  upon  an  eagle's  back. 

On  the  Coliseum  side  a  small  portion  of  the  entablature  is 
left.  The  frieze  had  a  bas-relief,  which  partially  remains,  of 
a  sacrificial  procession.  The  attica  is  modern,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  inscription.     That  the  arch  was  erected  after 

*  See  "  Rome  and  the  Campagna,"  p.  162. 
^  Josephus,  Bell.  Jud.  vii.  5,  7. 


Arch  of  Titus.    S.E.  Side. 


TIIK   PALATINE   HILL   AND   THE   VELIA. 


33 


the  emperor's  death  is  shown  by  the  title  Divus,  and  also  by 
the  figure  of  his  apotheosis  under  the  archway.  Another  arch 
had  been  erected  in  the  Circus  previously  in  a.d.  80,  when  the 
Coliseum  was  completed,  and  Titus  gave  a  great  festival. 
The  date  of  the  extant  arch  is,  therefore,  A.D.  82  or  83. 

Porticus  Margaritaria. — Between  the  round  ruin  which 
was  the  Temple  of  Vesta,  and  the  Arch  of  Titus,  on  the  slope 
of  the  Palatine,  ran  a  row  of  buildings  w^hich  were  probably 
shops,  and  were  called  Porticus  Margaritaria.  These  were 
built  after  the  destruction  of  the  Regia,  across  the  site  where 
the  Regia  stood. ^ 

Temple  of  Venus  and  Rome. — Almost  the  whole  of 
the  southern  slope  of  the  Velia  towards  the  Coliseum  is  occu- 
pied by  the  ruin  of  a  vast  foundation  which  extends  under 
the  church  and  convent  of  S.  Francesca  Romana.  The  sub- 
structions, of  which  only  the  inner  core,  consisting  of  rubble- 
work,  is  left,  were  originally  cased  with  travertine  blocks. 
They  form  an  enormous  quadrilateral  terrace,  round  which  a 
portico  of  granite  columns  ran.  Upon  this  was  raised  a  base- 
ment some  four  or  five  feet  higher,  and  a  building  with  two 
iipses  back  to  back,  similar  to  the  tribunes  of  a  basilica. 
These  are  ornamented  with  large  square  coffers  and  niches 
for  statues.  It  has  heen  generally  inferred  from  the  state- 
ments of  Dion  Cassius  and  Spartianus  that  this  building  was 
the  Temple  of  Venus  and  Rome  built  by  Hadrian,  and  dedi- 
<*ated  by  the  Antonines,  but  burnt  down  in  the  time  of  Con- 
stantine  and  restored  by  him."  Pope  Honorius  I.  stripped 
the  bronze  tiles  from  the  roof,  and  they  were  placed  on  the 
Basilica  of  S.  Peter,  whence  they  were  taken  by  the  Saracens 
in  A.D.  846.  In  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries,  lime- 
kilns were  set  up  near  the  arch  of  Titus  by  the  Romans,  and 
the  marbles  of  this  spot  were  burnt  into  lime.^  The  two 
tribunes  which  stand  back  to  back  and  the  buildings  near 
them  have  not  the  appearance  of  a  temple,  but  rather  of  a 
legal  court  or  basilica.  For  this  reason,  and  also  because  a 
large  portico  of  this  shape  is  represented  in  the  marble  plan 

'  See  Laneiani's  article  in  the  "  Nuove  scavi  ned  Foro  Romano," 
Koma,  1882.  The  probable  position  of  the  Arch  of  Fabius  is  also 
noticed  by  him. 

*  See  "Rome  and  the  Campaj^na,"'  p.  170. 

^  Ibiff.,  p.  171. 

D 


34 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


THE   PALATINE   HILL   AND   THE   VELIA. 


35 


of  the  city,  the  fragments  of  which  are  now  in  the  Capitoline 
Museum/  as  having  belonged  to  the  Porticus  Liviae,  Mr. 
Parker,  in  his  **  Archaeology  of  Rome,"  has  maintained  that 
this  was  the  Porticus  Liviae,  built  by  Augustus,  and  after- 


The  Temple  of  Vems  and  Rome. 

wards  used  by  Hadrian  for  the  Temple  of  the  Sun  and  Moon. 
Jordan  has  also  shown  that  the  Porticus  Liviae  was  near  this 
spot,  but  he  places  it  farther  to  the  north-east,  behind  the 
Basilica  of  Constantine.^     Since  Dion  Cassius  speaks  of  the 

*  Parker's  "  Archaeology  of  Rome,"  vol.  il  p.  98.    Jordan,  •'  Fomia 
urbis  Ronijv,"  Berlin,  1874,  p.  37. 


Temple  of  Venus  and  Rome  as  having  been  close  to  the  Coli- 
seum, and  also  near  the  Sacra  Via,  and  Spartianus  says  that 
it  stood  in  the  vestibule  of  the  Domus  Aurea  of  Nero,  we  are 
almost  compelled  to  assign  this  position  to  that  temple.^ 

Domus  Transitoria. — Nero's  enormous  extension  of  the 
Palatine  buildings  must  have  occupied  a  great  part  of  the 
Velia,  reaching  across  it  from  the  Palatine  to  the  Esquiline. 
But  his  great  Domus  Aurea  and  its  surrounding  porticoes  and 
halls,  which  were  called  Domus  Transitoria,  and  occupied  not 
only  the  slope  of  the  Velia  but  also  the  site  of  the  Coliseum, 
were  destroyed  by  the  Flavian  emperors,  and  we  can  only 
point  to  one  fragment  of  the  Domus  Transitoria  which  stands 
near  the  corner  of  the  Basilica  of  Constantine  at  the  side  of 
the  path  which  leads  between  that  ruin  and  the  buildings  of 
S.  Francesca  Romana. 

Basilica  of  Constantine. — The  vast  arches  of  the  ruin 
called  the  Basilica  of  Constantine  form,  next  to  the  Coliseum, 
the  most  conspicuous  object  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
Forum,  and  they  were  long  supposed  to  have  belonged  to  the 
Temple  of  Peace,  Vespasian's  great  temple.  But  the  decision 
of  modern  archaeology  has  assigned  them  to  Constantine,  on 
the  ground  that  the  brickwork  is  of  much  later  date  than  the 
time  of  Vespasian,  and  also  that  the  few  remains  of  decoration 
which  are  extant  bear  indications  of  a  great  decline  of  orna- 
mentative  art  when  they  were  constructed.  Further  evidence 
has  been  derived  from  a  coin  of  Maxentius,  the  rival  of  Con- 
stantine, having  been  found  in  1828  embedded  in  the  mortar 
of  one  of  the  fragments.  Aurelius  Victor  says  that  the 
basilica  called  by  the  name  of  Constantine  was  begun  by 
Maxentius.^  The  three  gigantic  arches  now  standing  formed 
the  roof  of  the  northern  aisle  of  the  basilica,  which  consisted,  as 
the  foundation  clearly  shows,  of  a  central  hall  and  two  side 
aisles.  The  arches  are  68  feet  in  span  and  80  feet  high. 
They  are  ornamented  by  octagonal  caissons  or  coffers,  con- 
taining central  rosettes  and  the  interspaces  are  relieved  by 
rhomboidal  panel  work.  The  two  side  arches  have  their 
backs  wailed  up,  and  there  are  six  arched  windows  in  each 
wall.  At  the  back  of  the  central  arch  is  a  semicircular 
tribune,  with  niches  for  statues  and  a  central  pedestal.    Some 

'  "  Rome  and  the  Canipa^a,"  p.  169. 

'^  Aur.  Vict.  Cjks.  xl.  26.     See  "  Rome  and  the  Canipagna  "  p.  166. 


piiiP 


THE   PALATINE    HILL   AND   THE   VELIA. 


37 


of  the  marble  ornaments  of  this  tribime  are  still  left,  and 
show  in  their  rude  execution  evidence  of  the  Constantinian 
style  of  art.  A  screen  seems  to  have  separated  the  tribune 
from  the  interior  of  the  hall.  In  front  of  the  three  great 
arches  can  be  plainly  seen  the  spring  of  the  enormous  roof 
which  covered  the  central  hall  of  the  basilica.  This  central 
hall  must  have  been  at  least  80  feet  in  width  and  115  feet 
in  height. 

The  southern  aisle  was  of  the  same  construction  and  size  as 
the  northern,  and  in  place  of  the  tribune  had  a  grand  entrance 
on  the  side  towards  the  arch  of  Titus.  A  flight  of  steps  and 
a  }X)rtico  with  porphyry  columns,  two  of  which  are  now  in  the 
Conservatori  Museum  on  the  Capitol,  formed  the  approach  to 
the  entrance.  A  white  column  from  the  central  hall  is  to  be 
seen  erected  in  front  of  S.  Maria  Maggiore,  where  it  was 
placed  in  the  seventeenth  century  by  Paul  V. 

At  the  western  end  of  the  central  hall  was  a  tribune,  and  at 
the  eastern  end  an  entrance  in  three  divisions  opened  into  the 
road  between  the  basilica  and  the  portico  of  the  so-called 
Temple  of  Venus  and  Rome.  This  entrance  had  a  vestibule 
or  veranda  similar  to  those  found  at  S.  Giovanni  in  Laterano 
and  at  S.  Maria  Maggiore,  and  answering  to  the  building 
called  a  chalcidicum  by  Vitruvius.^     (Fig.  9,  p.  23.) 

SS.  Cosma  and  Damiano. — The  church  of  SS.  Cosma  * 
and  Damiano  which  now  stands  at  the  north-western  end  of 
the  Basilica  of  Constantino  is,  like  many  other  churches  in 
Rome,  constructed  on  the  ruins  of  some  ancient  temple.  A 
most  careful  account  has  been  given  of  its  various  stages  of 
construction  by  Mr.  Parker.^  This  may  possibly  have  been 
the  site  of  the  original  Temple  of  the  Penates,  and  some 
archaeologists  have  thought  that  the  round  temple  which  has 
been  converted  into  the  vestibule  of  the  church  was  that  of 
the  Penates.  The  doorway  of  this  temple  with  its  columns,- 
frieze  and  bronze  doors,  has  been  raised  from  the  lower  level 
of  the  old  temple,  on  which  the  crypt  of  the  church  now  stands 
beneath  the  floor.  At  the  back  of  this  the  nave  of  the  church 
was  built  on  the  ruins  of  some  temple  which  Jordan  and 
Lanciani  say  was  the   Templum  Sacrae  Urbis,^  and  behind 

^  Vitruv.  v.  1. 

*  "  ArchaH)lo^y  of  Rome,"  vol.  ii.  p.  75. 

'  See  Middleton's  "  Ancient  Rome,"  ii.  17. 


■ K 


THE   PALATINE   HILL  AND   THE  VELIA. 


39 


'^. 


>^ 


c 


the  apse  of  the  nave  is  said  to  have  been  the  wall  on  which 
the  celebrated  Capitoline  marble  plan  of  Rome  was  hung.  The 
fragments  of  this  plan,  which  was  shaken  down,  as  is  supposed, 
bv.  the  fall  of  a  great  mass  from  the  Basilica  of  Constantine, 
were  found  here.  The  chapel  of  the  Penates  was  on  the  road 
from  the  summa  Sacra  Via  to  the  Carinae,  which  would  place 
it  near  this  spot.^  The  name  **  Temple  of  Romulus  "  given  to 
the  ruins  by  mediaeval  writers  may  have  been  derived  from 
some  restoration  by  Romulus,  son  of  Maxentius. 

Lavacrum  of  Heliogabalus. — We  now  pass  through 
the  arch  of  Titus  along  the  ancient  road  towards  the  Coliseum, 
and  on  the  slope  of  the  Palatine  to  our  right  stand  the  ruins 
of  a  mediaeval  church  which  was  excavated  in  1873  by  Cav. 
Rosa.  This  is  said  to  have  been  called  the  church  of  S.  Maria 
Aritiqua,  and  to  have  been  placed  upon  the  ruins  of  the  lava- 
crum of  Heliogabalus.^  The  chambers  now  disclosed  seem  to 
have  been  used  as  a  bath.  Along  the  side  of  the  hill  near  this 
are  numerous  ruins  similar  to  those  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Palatine,  which  were  apparently  guard  rooms. 

^  See  '*  Rome  and  the  Campagna,*'  p.  163. 

-  Lanipridiuw,  Hist.  Aug.  Ant.  Hel.  8,  17,  in  ncdibus  aulicis.  Parker, 
"  Archjuology  of  Rome,"  vol.  ii.  p.  92. 


:|! 


I 


CHAPTER  II. 


,    THE    FORUM    ROMANUM. 


Temple  of  Castor. — At  a  short  distance  from  the  entrance 
to  the  Palatine  we  can  enter  the  Forum  near  the  ruins  of  an 
ancient  temple,  three  columns  of  which  are  still  standing. 
These  three  columns  are  among  the  most  conspicuous  and 
beautiful  remains  of  ancient  Rome.  No  doubt  can  now  be 
felt  that  they  belonged  to  the  Temple  of  Castor  and  Pollux. 
The  situation  agrees  with  that  which  is  pointed  out  by  the 
Ancyraean  inscription,  and  by  the  fact  that  Caligula  made  a 
passage  from  the  Palatine  Palace  to  this  temple. 

The  substructions  of  this  building  have  been  cleared,  and 
the  length  and  breadth  of  the  basement  and  of  the  steps 
forming  the  approach  can  now  be  clearly  seen.  The  three 
columns  belonged  to  the  central  part  of  the  south-eastern  side. 
They  are  of  most  elegant  proportions,  and  their  capitals, 
architrave  and  frieze  are  ornamented  with  decorative  work  of 
the  very  best  period  of  Graeco- Roman  architecture.  The 
designs  on  the  entablature  are  most  delicate  and  perfect,  and 
well  repay  a  minute  examination.  Besides  the  usual  orna- 
ments upon  the  cornice  and  modillions  there  is  along  the  upper 
edge  a  row  of  beautiful  lions'  heads,  through  which  the  rain- 
water ran  off.     (See  Fig.  7,  p.  10.) 

The  temple  had  evidently  eight  columns  in  front,  and  eleven 
side  columns,  reckoning  in  the  corner  column.  The  approach 
was  raised  high  above  the  Forum  level,  and  has  three  steps 
projecting  beyond  the  line  of  the  next  building,  the  Basilica 
Julia.  The  lines  of  the  front  steps  are  preserved,  and  also 
those  of  the  side  towards  the  Capitol,  while  the  other  side  has 
been  destroyed.     The  pavement  in  front  of  this  has  been 


42 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


miserably  altered  and  mended  at  a  late  date,  probably  after 
the  fourth  century. 

The  capitals  when  compared  with  the  Corinthian  capitals 


The  Temple  of  Castor  and  Pollux. 


of  the  Pantheon,  show  a  longer  and  narrower  type  which 
is  also  found  at  the  Temple  of  Vespasian  and  the  peri- 
style of  Nerva's  Forum,  the  Colonacce.  The  lower  founda- 
tions of  the  basement  are  of  old  tufa  rubble  construction, 


I    ^  ! 


41 


ANCIENT    ROME. 


and  possibly  belong  to  the  date  of  the  original  foundations 
in  B.C.  494  by  the  dictator  Aulus  Postumius,  who  vowed  to 
build  it  at  the  battle  of  the  Lake  Regillus  in  the  Latin  war. 
It  was  afterwards  dedicated  by  his  son  in  B.C.  484.     Two 
restorations  are  mentioned,  the  first  executed  by  L.  Metellus 
Dalmaticus,  consul  in  B.C.  119,  and  the  second  by  Brusus  and 
Tiberius  in  a.d.  6.     The  temple  was  used  for  meetings  of  the 
senate,  for  harangues  from  its  steps   to  the  people  in   the 
forum,  and  for  holding  courts  of  law.     A  register  of  changes 
in  the  value  of  money  was  kept  in  the  tabularium  of  the 
temple,   and   deposits   were   made   here   as   in   many   other 
temples.'     Standing  as  the  old  temple  did  near  the  veteres 
tabernse  of  the  forum,  and  the  newer  restorations  of  them 
near  the  Basilica  Julia,  it  was  convenient  for  business  trans- 
actions.    On  the  north-west  side  a  street  pavement  leading 
to  the  Velabrum  has  been  laid  bare,  which  may  be  that  of 
the  Vicus  Tuscus. 

Puteal.— Descending  from  the  temple  of  Castor  to  the 
ancient  pavement  of  the  Forum  Romanum,  we  find  at  the 
eastern  comer  of  the  ruin  the  remains  of  a  puteal  or  well- 
house  which  has  naturally  been  supposed  to  be  the  fountain 
of  Juturna  from  its  neighbourhood  to  the  Temple  of  the  Twin 
Brethren,  who  are  said  to  have  given  their  horses  drink  there 
after  the  battle  of  Regillus. 

Templum  and  Atrium  Vestae  and  Regia.— The  site 
of  the  Atrium  and  Templum  Vestae  and  of  the  Regia  has  long 
been  known  from  passages  of  Ovid  and  Plutarch,'  and  that 
the  temple  was  round  in  shape  to  represent  the  earth. ^  But  till 
18S3  no  excavations  had  been  made  suflicient  to  enable  us  to 
judge  of  their  size  and  exact  position.  This  has  now  been 
done,  and  we  learn  certainly  what  their  extent  was,  and  many 
statues  of  Vestal  virgins  and  inscriptions  have  been  found, 
and  are  now  to  be  seen  in  situ.  The  exact  position  of  the 
atrium  or  hall  was  opposite  the  church  of  S.  Maria  Liberatrice. 
and  it  was  a  right-angled  building,  345  feet  long  and  171 
feet  wide.  It  had  but  one  entrance,  and  was  surrounded 
apparentlv  with  statues  of  the  most  celebrated  Vestals  and 
their  benefactors,  of  which  some  curious  examples  have  been 

^  See  *'  Rome  and  the  Camnagna,"  p.  100. 

2  Ov.  Fa.sti,  vi.  265  ;  Plut.  Nuiiia,  11. 

=>  See  "  Rome  and  the  Camiwigna,"  p.  103. 


H 
■T. 


46 


ANCIENT  ROME, 


discovered.     The  hall,  which,  as  we  have  said,  was  large,  had 
porticoes  surrounding  it.    At  one  end  was  a  basin  of  water, 

and    behind    it    a    reception 
room,   with   six   small  rooms 
opening  into  it.    There  is  also 
a   small   courtyard  with   fur- 
naces and  a  mill  for  grinding 
meal,   and   a   small   staircase 
leading  to  bedrooms,  which  re- 
main on  the  west  side.     The 
rites   and   ceremonies   of  the 
Vestals   and   their   privileges 
and  exemptions  will  be  found 
in  most  dictionaries  of  Roman 
antiquities.     The    Regia    was 
originally   the   house    of    the 
Pontifex'  Maximus,   but    was 
given   up   to   the   Vestals   by 
Augustus.     It  was  not  far  off 
the  Atrium,  and  remains  of  it 
have    been    found    near    the 
Temple  of  Vesta.    From  some 
relics    the    temple   has    been 
resuscitated,  and   a  figure  of 
it  will  be  found  in  Lanciani's 
book,  "Ancient  Rome,"  p.  159. 
Chapel  of  Julius  Caesar. 
—In  front  of  the  Temple  of 
Castor  a  large  block  of  sub- 
structions   has   been   cleared, 
which  is  with  great  probability 
assigned  to  the  chapel   built 
in  honour  of  Julius  Caesar,  and 
called  the  Heroon  of  Csesar. 
Ovid's    lines,   in   one   of    his 
letters  from  Pontus — 

•*  Like  the  twin  brethren,  whom  in  their  abode  ^^ 
Julius,  the  go(l,  beholds  from  his  liigli  shrine, 

seem  to  prove  that  the  Heroon  was  in  front  of  that  temple 
The   body  of   Cffisar  was  burnt  in  front  of   the  Regia  and 


Statue  of  a  Vestal. 


s 


i 


THE  FORUM   ROMAN UM, 


47 


Temple  of  Vesta,  which  were  at  this  end  of  the  Forum,  and 
the  Heroon  was  placed  on  the  spot  where  it  was  burnt.  The 
remains  of  two  small  staircases  were  found  at  the  sides  of 
the  Heroon,  and  a  wider  staircase  in  front.  The  epithet 
"  high,"  given  by  Ovid  to  its  position,  seems  to  be  in  ac- 
eor<&nce  with  the  raised  basement.  The  semicircle  of 
masonry  on  the  north  side  has  not  been  satisfactorily  ex- 
plained. It  is  usually  supposed  to  have  belonged  to  the 
Julian  rostra.^ 

Temple  of  Antoninus  and  Faustina. — To  the  north- 
east of  the  Heroon  of  Julius  Caesar,  we  find  the  ancient  pave- 
ment of  the  road  which  ran  along  the  north-eastern  side  of 
the  Forum,  and  to  this  road  descend  the  steps  of  a  temple 
with  a  conspicuous  row  of  six  cipollino  columns,  and  with 
two  columns  and  a  pilaster  besides  the  corner  column  on  each 
side.  These  columns  have  Attic  bases  and  Corinthian 
capitals  of  white  marble.  The  inscription  upon  the  plain 
architrave  in  front  shows  that  the  temple  was  first  dedicated 
to  Faustina  alone,  and  that  the  first  three  words,  including 
the  emperor's  name,  were  added  after  his  death.  The  Faustina 
here  commemorated  was  probably  the  elder  Faustina,  wife  of 
Antoninus  Pius,  as  a  representation  of  this  temple  is  given 
on  one  of  the  medals  struck  in  her  honour.*  She  died  in 
A.D.  141,  and  Antoninus  Pius  in  161.  The  frieze  of  the 
temple  is  ornamented  at  the  sides  with  a  bold  and  finely- 
executed  relief  representing  griffins  with  upraised  wings, 
between  which  are  carved  elaborately-designed  candelabra, 
and  vases.  A  considerable  part  of  the  side  walls  of  grey 
peperino  blocks  anciently  faced  with  marble  h  still  standing. 
A  church  wai  built  here  at  a  very  early  time,  but  the  present 
building,  which  forms  a  strange  contrast  in  the  meanness  ot 
its  style  and  proportions  to  the  massive  grandeur  of  the  grey 
old  ruin  which  embraces  it,  was  built  in  1602  by  the  guild  of 
the  Roman  apothecaries.^  It  is  dedicated  to  S.  Lorenzo  in 
Miranda. 

Extent  of  the  Forum. — We  now  pass  along  the  ancient 
stone  pavement  towards  the  Capitol,  and  observe  how  small 

*  Professor  Middleton  thinks  that  it  was  made  to  contain  a  pre- 
existing column  or  altar  ("  Ancient  Rome,"  i.  286). 
•^  Eckhel,  vii.  37. 
'  See  Reber's  "Ruinen  Roms,"  p.  132. 


1 


THE  FORUM   ROMANUM. 


49 


the  space  occupied  by  the  ancient  Forum  Romanum  was. 
The  temple  we  have  just  left  stood  in  the  eastern  comer, 
and  the  columns  of  the  two  temples  opposite  to  us  on  the  slope 
of  the  Capitol  mark  the  other  end  of  the  Forum.  The  central 
pavement  now  laid  bare  is  of  travertine  flags,  while  the  roads 
are  marked  by  basaltic  blocks. 


The  Column  of  Phocas. 

Column  of  Phocas. — On  the  side  of  the  central  space 
runs  a  row  of  seven  large  masses  of  brickwork,  which  seem  to 
be  the  bases  of  pedestals  which  supported  dedicatory  columns, 
or  columns  with  statues  similar  to  the  one  still  standing 
near,  which  has  become  known  to  English  travellers  as 
'*  the  nameless  column  with  the  buried  base "  of  Byron. 
Since  Byron's  time  the  base  of  this  has  been  unburied,  and 

E 


50 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


THE  FORUM   ROMANUM. 


51 


I* 


bears  the  name  of  Smaragdus,  proclaimed  exarch  of  Italy  for 
the  eleventh  time/  who  erected  it  in  honour  of  the  Emperor 
Phocas.  The  date  is  given  by  the  words  indict,  und.,  which 
show  that  Smaragdus  was  in  his  eleventh  year  as  exarch,  and 
we  know  that  he  was  exarch  under  Mauricius  for  five  years, 
A.D.  583-588,  and  six  years  under  Phocas,  a.d.  602-608.  His 
eleventh  year  would  thus  be  in  608,  and  this  was  the  fifth  year 
of  Phocas'  reign,  so  that  the  last  words  of  the  inscription 
confirm  the  explanation  given  of  the  previous  words  indict. 
UND.'  "  P.  C."  in  the  inscription  probably  mean,  as  Clinton 
explains,  }X)st  consulatum,  which  was  the  way  of  reckoning 
in  the  later  years  of  the  Eastern  Empire. 

Pedestal  of  Equestrian  Statue. — In  the  centre  of  the 
Forum  traces  of  the  base  of  a  large  pedestal  can  be  dis- 
cerned, and  this  is  supjx)sed  to  have  been  the  position  of  the 
equestrian  statue  of  Domitian  described  at  length  by  Statins, 
who  says  in  the  first  jx)em  of  his  **  Silvae"  that  an  equestrian 
statue  of  Domitian  stood  at  the  north-western  end  of  the 
Forum,  looking  towards  the  other  end.  It  was  a  triumphal 
statue  erected  in  honour  of  Domitian's  campaigns  against  the 
Catti  and  Daci.  The  poet  describes  its  position  very  accu- 
rately, mentioning  the  Heroon  of  Julius  Caesar  which  faced 
it,  the  Basilica  Julia  on  the  right,  the  Basilica  PauU  on  the 
left,  and  the  temples  of  Concord  and  Vespasian  behind.  The 
Temple  of  Saturn  is  omitted  for  some  unknown  reason. 
Statins  also  alludes  to  some  other  principal  objects  in  the 
Forum,  the  Temple  of  Vesta,  the  Temple  of  Castor,  and  the 
statue  of  Curtius.  He  concludes  with  prophesying  that  the 
statue  will  outlast  the  eternal  city.^  It  seems,  however,  pro- 
bable, as  Mr.  Nichols  in  his  admirable  book  on  the  Forum 
has  said,  that  the  statue  was  removed  after  Domitian's 
death,  when  his  memory  was  execrated,  or  was  dedicated  to  a 
succeeding  emperor,  and  that  the  statement  of  Herodian 
about  the  dream  of  Severus,  who  imagined  that  he  saw  an 

*  Corp.  Inscr.  Lat.  vol.  vi.  pt.  1,  No.  1,200.  "  Intlictionis  untlecimo 
Past  Consulatum  pietatis  ejus  anno  quinto  "  are  the  last  words  of  the 
inscription.  *'  In  the  eleventh  year  of  his  appointment  and  the  fifth 
year  of  his  reverence  the  enij)eror."  See  Nibby,  "Roma  antica," 
p.  152;  Zell.  Epijrr.  1,226.    A  D  =  A  Deo. 

2  See  Clinton,  Fast.  Horn.  a.d.  608. 

'  Stat.  Silv.  i.  1.  Mr.  Parker  thinks  that  this  was  the  pedestal  of 
a  statue  of  Constantine.     Archteol.  vol.  ii.  pi.  xix. 


equestrian  statue  in  the  Forum,  a  colossal  representation  of 
which  remained  there  in  the  historian's  time,  may  refer  to 
this  pedestal.' 

Trajan's  Bas-Reliefs. — Two  of  the  most  interesting 
monuments  which  have  been  brought  to  light  by  the  recent 
excavations  in  Rome  were  discovered  in  1872,  near  the  base  of 
the  column  of  Phocas,  where  they  have  been  re-erected.  They 
consist  of  marble  slabs,  sculptured  with  bas-reliefs  and  form- 
ing low  screens.  Each  screen  is  constructed  of  slabs  of 
unequal  size,  and  some  of  these  have  been  unfortunately 
lost.  Their  original  position  has  been  restored  as  nearly  as 
possible,  and  they  stand  parallel  to  each  other  in  a  line 
crossing  the  area  of  the  Forum.  On  the  inner  sides  of  both 
of  these  sculptured  screens,  the  sacrificial  animals,  the  boar, 
sheep  and  bull,  always  offered  up  at  the  Suovetaurilia,  are 
represented. 

The  other  sides,  which  are  turned  outwards,  represent 
scenes  in  the  Forum,  and  are  commemorative  of  some  public 
benefaction  of  one  of  the  emperors,  probably  Trajan  or 
Hadrian.  On  one  of  them  Italia  is  represented  thanking  the 
emperor  for  establishing  some  "  alimenta  publica,"  public 
relief  institutions,  and  for  apportioning  lands  to  encourage 
needy  parents  to  rear  their  children.  Such  relief  funds  and 
lands  intended  to  supply  the  defective  population  of  Italy 
were  first  established  by  the  Emperor  Nerva,  and  afterwards 
by  Trajan,  Hadrian,  and  the  Antonines,  and  are  frequently 
commemorated  on  medals,  and  mentioned  by  the  historians 
Dion  Cassius  and  Aurelius  Victor,  and  the  authors  of  the 
Augustan  history."  The  emperor  is  represented  in  a  sitting 
posture,  and  stretching  out  his  hand  towards  a  child  pre- 
sented by  a  woman  in  the  character  of  Italia,  who  apparently 
holds  another  child  ready  for  presentation.  Behind  the 
emperor's  seat  is  the  fig-tree  called  Navia  or  Ruminalis,  which 
is  said  to  have  grown  near  the  rostra,  and  also  the  figure  of 
Marsyas  which  stood  in  the  same  place.  At  the  other  end  of 
this  sculptured  scene  stands  a  speaker  with  a  roll  in  his 
hand,  addressing  a  crowd  of  citizens  from  a  rostrum,  which 
may  perhaps  represent  the  publication  of  the  edict  establish- 
ing alimenta. 

^  Nichols,  "The  Roman  Forum,"  p.  78. 

^  See  "  Home  and  the  Campagna,"  Appendix,  p.  452. 


52 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


I' 


The  other  bas-relief  scene  shows  a  rostrum  at  one  end, 
from  which  a  sitting  figure  is  superintending  the  burning  of 
large  bundles  of  books,  carried  and  placed  in  front  of  him 
in  a  heap.  The  outline  of  a  figure  applying  a  torch  can  be 
traced,  and  also  of  several  attendants.  At  the  opposite  end 
to  the  sitting  figure  the  fig-tree  and  Marsyas  are  placed  as  in 
the  other  relief. 

The  style  of  art  in  which  the  reliefs  are  executed  cannot,  in 
Professor  Henzen's  opinion,  belong  to  an  earlier  period  than 
Trajan's  reign.  The  treatment  corresponds  to  that  on  those 
reliefs  that  were  transferred  from  Trajan's  arch  to  Constan- 
tine's.  After  Trajan's  time  the  style  of  bas-relief  was  so 
much  altered  that  we  cannot  suppose  them  to  have  been 
sculptured  later  than  the  first  year  of  Hadrian. 

As  Trajan  gained  great  popularity  in  the  early  years  of  his 
reign  by  an  abolition  of  the  arrears  of  certain  debts  due  to 
the  imperial  treasury,  amounting  to  a  large  sum,  and  as  he 
also  established  alimenta,  these  reliefs  have  been  generally 
supposed  to  commemorate  his  public  benefactions,  in  found- 
ing relief  institutions  and  cancelling  public  debts. 

The  most  reasonable  ctmjecture  which  has  yet  been  made  as 
to  the  purpose  which  these  sculptured  screens  served  is  that 
they  formed  a  pons  or  passage  along  which  voters  passed  at 
a  time  of  election  from  the  Forum  to  the  office  where  the 
votes  were  taken.  A  great  part  of  the  structures  used  at  such 
times  was  probably  temporary,  and  made  of  wood  for  the 
occasion.  Another  explanation  suggested  by  Mr.  Nichols  is 
that  they  formed  a  passage  leading  to  an  altar  and  statue  of 
*  the  Emperor.  It  may  be  that  the  sculptures  never  reached 
their  destined  site,  but  were  left  here,  as  many  of  the 
marbles  on  the  Tiber  banks  were,  and  gradually  buried  in 

rubbish. 

Basilica  Julia. — We  now  pass  to  the  rows  of  restored 
bases  of  columns,  which  occupy  the  long  space  on  the  south- 
western side  of  the  seven  pedestals  above  mentioned.  Here 
we  find  the  ground  plan  of  the  great  Basilica  Julia  marked 
out  by  a  treble  row  of  columns  at  each  of  the  larger  sides, 
and  a  double  row  at  each  end.  One  pier  of  the  outer  row 
towards  the  Forum  has  been  restored  by  Rosa  so  as  to  show 
the  original  height. 

The  proof  that  these  ruins  belong  to  the  Basilica  Julia 


THE  FORUM  ROMANUM. 


53 


which  was  planned  by  Julius  Caesar,  and  begun  by  him  but 
completed  by  Augustus,  who  dedicated  it  to  his  grandsons 
Caius  and  Lucius,  is  the  statement  in  the  Monumentum 
Ancyranum,  in  w^hich  it  is 
placed  between  the  temples  of 
Saturn  and  Castor. 

A  second  proof  is  derived 
from  two  inscriptions  found 
during  the  process  of  clearing 
the  site,  one  of  which  records 
the    repair    of    the    Basilica 
Julia,  and  the  erection  in  it 
of  a  statue  by  Gabinius  Vet- 
tius  Probianus,  prefect  of  the 
city  in  A.D.  377.  and  the  other 
the  rebuilding  of  the  Basilica 
Julia  under  Maximian  after 
the  fire  which  destroyed  it  in 
the  time  of  Carinus  and  Nu- 
merian.     This  site  is  also  as- 
signed to  the  Basilica  on  the 
Capitoline  plan  which  may  be 
seen  on  the  staircase  of  the 
Capitoline  Museum.  The  out- 
line given  there,  and  marked 
by  the  name  Basilica  Julia, 
agrees  in  proportion,  and  in 
the   rows    of    columns   with 
the  extant  remains,  and  this 
shows  that  the  present  ruin 
is  the  same  in  its  main  points 
with  that  which  stood  in  the 
time    of   Severus,   when    the 
Capitoline   2>lan   was   made.^ 
Seven   steps  lead  up  to  the 
level   of   the   floor  from  the 
Forum  level. 


Fragments  of  the  Capitoline  Plan. 


^  Jordan,  *'  Forma  urhis  Roma?,"  pp.  4,  25.  The  proportion  of  the 
len^h  to  the  breadth  is  nearly  that  given  by  Vitruvius  as  proper  for  a 
basilica. 


I;  J  -^ 

■  r. 


A  great  deal  of  legal  business  was  transacted  here,  as  maj 
be  seen  from  the  frequent  mention  of  it  in  Pliny's  Epistles. 
There  were  four  tribunals,  of  which  Quintilian  speaks,  at 
which  four  trials  could  be  carried  on  at  the  same  time ;  but 
these  tribunals  were  probably  wooden  and  temporary  erec- 
tions, and  there  is  no  trace  of  any  semicircular  apses,  such  as. 
those  in  the  Basilica  of  Constantine.  One  of  Caligula's 
amusements,  as  we  are  told  by  Suetonius,  was  to  stand  upon 
the  roof  of  this  basilica,  and  throw  money  to  the  mob  in  the 
Foriim  to  scramble  for.  Whether  the  basilica  was  covered 
over  in  the  centre  is  not  certain,  but  it  probably  was  so,  with 
two  aisles  open  to  the  Forum.  The  row  of  arches  standing 
at  the  north-west  comer  is  partly  a  restoration  of  the  basilica 
by  Canina,  and  partly  consists  of  some  piers  and  a  wall 
standing  behind,  which  has  not  yet  been  satisfactorily  identi- 
fied with  any  ancient  building.  The  most  probable  supposi- 
tion is  that  they  belonged  to  the  Porticus  Julia  mentioned 
by  Dion  Cassius,  and  were  parts  of  an  earlier  edifice,  in 
front  of  which  and  upon  which  the  basilica  was  placed  by 

Augustus. 

Cloaca.— Under  the  southern  end  of  the  floor  of  the 
Julian  Basilica,  an  opening  has  been  made  in  which  the  arch 
of  the  main  cloaca  of  the  Forum  valley  can  be  seen  imssing 
across  the  Forum  towards  the  Subura.  This  is  the  drain  of 
which  Juvenal  sj)eaks,  when  he  says  that  the  fish  taken  from 
the  Crypta  Suburse  is  the  climax  of  indignity  offered  to  the 
unhappv  parasite  Trebius  at  his  patron's  table.^  The  course 
of  the  drain  runs  from  here  under  the  Via  dei  Fenili  down  to 
the  Janus  Quadrifrons  in  the  Velabrum,  where  it  meets  other 
branches  and  passes  down  to  the  Tiber.  Between  the  eastern 
end  of  the  Basilica  Julia  and  the  temple  of  Castor  ran  the 
Vicus  Tuscus,  of  which  the  paving-stones  may  still  be  traced. 
At  the   western   end   the  Vicus   Jugarius   led  towards  the 

Velabrum. 

Arch  of  Tiberius. — The  Arch  of  Tiberius,  which  stood 
at  the  corner  of  the  Basilica  Julia,  where  the  Vicus  Jugarius 
and  the  Clivus  Capitolinus  diverged,  cannot  be  clearly  traced, 
though  some  of  its  ruins  have  been  thought  to  exist  among 
those  uncovered  at  the  edge  of  and  under  the  modern  road. 

1  Juv.  Sat.  v.  104. 


THE   FORUM   ROMAN UM. 


55 


This  arch  has  been  with  great  probability  supposed  to  be  that 
alluded  to  by  Tacitus  in  speaking  of  the  recovery  of  the 
Roman  standards  lost  by  Varus,  and  retaken  by  Germanicus 
under  the  auspices  of  Tiberius.^  The  triumphal  arch  repre- 
sented on  the  Arch  of  Constantine  is  also  thought  to  be  that 
of  Tiberius  placed  here. 

Temple  of  Saturn. — We  now  pass  along  the  foot  of  the 
Capitoline  Hill,  and  proceed  to  examine  the  most  prominent 
ruin  at  the  western  end   of   the  Forum.     This  consists  of 
eight  columns,  six  of  grey  granite  forming  a  front,  and  two 
side  columns  of  red  granite.     The  capitals  of  these  and  the 
decoration  of   the    entablature,    architrave    and  frieze   sur- 
mounting them  are  of  a  late  and  debased  Ionic  order  with 
volutes  in  the  later  style  (see  Fig.  6,  p.  9),  and  they  have  been 
pieced  together  in  the  last  restoration  of  the  temple  with 
extraordinary  negligence.     Unequal  spaces  are  left  between 
the  columns,  and  some  are  set  upon  plinths  while  others  are 
without  them.     One  of  the  side  columns  has  been  so  badly 
re-erected  that  the  stones  are  misplaced,  and  consequently 
the  diameter  of  the  upper  portion  is  of  the  same  size  as  that 
of  the  lower.     The  restored  carving  on  the  inner  frieze  is  of 
the  roughest  description,  and  the  barbarous  negligence  of  the 
whole  restoration  shows  that  it  cannot  have  been  done  earlier 
than  the  fourth  or  fifth  century.     A  comparison  of  the  ruins 
now  remaining  with  the  plan  as  given  on  the  fragments  of 
the  Capitoline  map,  bearing  the  name  sat  vrni,  has  been 
made  by  Jordan,  who  shows  that  the  remains  of  a  prominent 
and  peculiar  flight  of  steps  in  front  of  the  six  columns  corre- 
spond to  the  rough  sketch  on  the  plan,  and  that  this  flight 
of  steps  facing  north  must  be  taken  to  be  the  front  of  the 
temple.^     The  pavement  stones  of  the  road  which  led  from 
the  forum  past  the  front  of  the  temple  may  still  be  traced 
curving  round  this  projecting  flight  of  steps.     Little  doubt 
now  remains  that  the  ruin  of  the  eight  columns,  the  name  of 
which  has  been  so  much  discussed,  and  was  often  identified 
with  the  Temple  of  Concord,  belonged  to  the  Temple  of  Saturn. 
The  inscription  now  upon  the  front  was  placed  there  at  its 
latest  restoration  which,  as  we  have  seen,  was  in  Christian 
times,  and  the  name  of  the  divinity  is  therefore  omitted. 


'  Tac.  Ann.  ii.  41. 


Jordan,  **  Forma  urbis  Romse,"  p.  26. 


56 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


This  temple  was  one  of  the  most  revered  and  ancient  in 
the  city,  and  its  foundation  is  traced  back  in  legendary  myth 
to  the  Hellenic   Kronos.      The  earliest  date  given  for  the 


The  Temples  of  satlu.n  am)  Vfisi-asian,  in  l87o. 

dedication  is  B.C.  498.  Many  restorations  must  have  taken 
place.  An  inscription  recording  one  in  the  time  of  Augustus 
by  Munatius  Plancus  has  been  found.      This  temple  long 


a^cuv/rr.cMrs-e. 


The  Temple  of  Satlrx. 


58 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


retained  the  name  of  the  Mint,  from  the  fact  that  the  state 
treasures  were  deposited  under  the  care  of  the  god  Saturnus, 
as  one  of  the  most  venerated  of  Roman  deities. 

Area  of  the  Dii  Consentes. — The  ancient  road  leading 
up  to  the  Capitol  made  a  turn  behind  the  Temple  of  Saturn, 
and  a  portico  with  semi-Corinthian  or  Composite  columns 
has  been  restored  from  some  columns  and  capitals  found 
here  in  1835.  At  the  back  of  this  portico  were  twelve  re- 
cessed chambers  occupied  by  chapels  of  the  twelve  deities 
called  the  Dii  Consentes.  Four  of  these  still  remain  under 
the  modem  Via  del  Campidoglio.  The  walls  are  chiefly  of 
brickwork,  apparently  of  the  second  or  third  century,  but  the 
back  wall  against  the  ascent  to  the  Capitol  is  of  hard  tufa. 
The  interiors  were  faced  with  marble,  of  which  traces  are 
left.  From  the  inscription  found  in  1835  upon  the  archi- 
trave it  appears  that  Vettius  Prsetextatus,  a  prefect  of  the 
city  in  A.D.  367,  restored  the  statues  of  the  Dii  Consentes, 
which  had  stood  here  from  ancient  times.  Varro  mentions 
gilded  statues  of  the  gods  of  the  council  as  near  the  Forum, 
and  also  speaks  of  their  temple.  This  portico  and  chambers 
cannot,  however,  have  been  a  temple,  but  were  evidently 
clerks'  offices  connected  with  the  state  depositories  near  the 
Temple  of  Saturn.  Cicero  speaks  of  the  clerks  of  the  Capi- 
toline  ascent.'  Vettius  Prsetextatus,  who  restored  the  building 
in  367,  was  notorious  for  his  opposition  to  the  Christian 
religion  and  for  his  zeal  in  sup])orting  the  ancient  cultus. 
He  held  several  offices,  and  was  pro-consul  of  Achaia  under 
Julian,  and  prol»ably  recommended  himself  to  that  emperor 
by  his  attachment  to  the  old  Roman  religion. 

Schola  Xanthi. — Below  the  portico  and  its  chambers 
stands  another  row  of  lower  chambers,  three  of  which  are  said 
by  Marliani  to  have  been  found  entire  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
Inscriptions  found  here  give  the  name  of  Schola  to  the  cham- 
bers, and  hence  thev  have  been  called  Schola  Xanthi,  from  the 
name  of  Xanthus,  which  occurs  in  the  inscription  as  a  restorer. 
They  were  undoubtedly  clerks'  offices,  similar  to  those  behind 
the  portico  of  the  Dii  Consentes  above  them. 

Temple  of  Vespasian. — We  now  turn  from  the  portico 
of  the  Dii  Consentes  to  the  three  Corinthian  columns  which 

»  Cic.  Phil.  ii.  7. 


The  Temple  of  Vespasian. 


^m 


60 


THE   FORUM   ROMANUM. 


61 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


stand  under  the  large  building  called  the  Tabularium.  These 
three  columns  have  now  been  proved  to  belong  to  the  ruin  of 
a  temple  dedicated  to  Vespasian  by  his  son  Domitian.  This 
position  of  Vespasian's  temple  agrees  with  the  statements  of 
the  Notitia  and  Curiosura  and  of  Statins.  The  inscription,  of 
which  only  the  letters  estituer  now  remain,  was  seen  and 
the  whole  of  it  transcribed  by  a  writer  of  the  ninth  century, 
whose  MS.  is  preserved  at  Einsiedeln.^  It  recorded  the 
restoration  of  this  temple  by  Severus  and  Caracalla.  The 
letters  estituer  stand  at  the  lower  edge  of  the  frieze,  showing 
that  there  was  another  line  above.  This  upper  line  was  divo. 
VESP.  AUG.  S.P.Q.R.,  and  referred  to  the  original  building  of  the 
temple,  while  the  lower  line  recorded  its  restoration.  The 
temple  was  approached  by  a  flight  of  steps  from  the  road  be- 
tween it  and  the  Temple  of  Saturn,  the  uppermost  of  which 
were  placed  between  the  columns  and  have  been  partially  re- 
stored. The  three  columns  which  now  remain  are  the  three 
corner  columns  of  the  portico.  They  have  fluted  shafts  and 
Corinthian  capitals.  The  letters  of  the  inscription  were  of 
metal,  and  the  holes  of  the  rivets  which  fastened  them 
are  still  visible.  The  architrave  and  cornice  are  ornamented 
very  richly  with  the  usual  mouldings,  and  there  are  some 
most  interesting  reliefs  upon  the  frieze  representing  sacrificial 
implements  and  the  skulls  of  oxen.  A  horsetail  for  sprinkling, 
and  a  sacrificial  knife  with  a  vase,  a  patera,  an  axe,  and  a  high 
]>riest's  mitre  are  plainly  distinguishable.  Another  portion  of 
the  entablature  was  pieced  together  by  Canina  and  is  still 
kept  in  the  rooms  of  the  Tabularium.  The  walls  of  the  cella 
were  built  of  travertine  faced  with  marble.  Against  the  back 
wall  stands  a  large  pedestal  which  supported  the  statue  of  the 
deified  Emperor. 

Temple  of  Concord.— Next  to  the  temple  of  Vespasian, 
we  are  told  by  Statins,  stood  the  Temple  of  Concord.  The 
site  is  also  determined  by  passages  in  Plutarch  and  in  Dion 
Cassius,  and  by  the  plan  given  in  the  Capitoline  map.  Exca- 
vations were  carried  out  here  in  1817,  1830,  and  1835,  which 
resulted  in  disclosing  the  foundations  of  the  temple,  and  in 
finding  some  inscriptions  which  attest  the  dedication  of  this 
spot  to  the  goddess  Concord.     The  temple  of  Concord  was 

*  See  '*  Rome  and  the  Campagna,"  p.  58. 


founded,  according  to  Livy,  Ovid,  and  Plutarch,  by  Camillus  in 
B.C.  367,  on  the  memorable  occasion  when  the  senate,  after  a 
long  and  anxious  debate,  wisely  determined  to  make  peace 
with  the  Commons  by  throwing  open  the  office  of  Consul  to 
the  plebeian  order.  ^ 

It  was  placed  near  the  old  meeting-place  (Comitium)  of  the 
privileged  families  (gentes),  as  if  constantly  to  remind  them 
that  the  newly  established  concord  of  the  community  was 
under  the  special  sanction  of  the  gods.  When  the  Temple  of 
Camillus  was  first  restored  we  do  not  learn.  The  earliest 
notice  of  a  new  Temple  to  Concord  is  the  statement  that  the 
Consul  Opimius  was  ordered  by  the  senate  on  the  death  of  C. 
Gracchus  to  build  a  new  temple  to  Concord.  The  temple 
seems  to  have  been  a  kind  of  Pantheon  or  museum,  for  it  was 
filled  with  a  great  number  of  statues  of  various  gods,  and  with 
curiosities.  On  the  left-hand  side  of  the  remaining  founda- 
tions of  the  cella  are  two  large  pedestals  which  probably  sup- 
ported two  of  the  principal  statues. 

Tiberius  rebuilt  it  after  his  German  campaign  in  a.d.  6  and 
7,  and  dedicated  it  in  honour  of  himself  and  his  brother.  The 
form  of  the  latest  restoration,  which  seems  to  have  been 
carried  out  after  the  building  behind  it,  the  so-called  Tabu- 
larium, was  built,  as  it  is  placed  close  to  that  building  which 
must  have  rendered  the  decorations  on  its  walls  invisible,  can 
be  traced  by  the  present  relics  of  foundation  walls,  and  pre- 
sents a  singular  deviation  from  the  normal  j^lan  of  a  Roman 
temple.  The  pronaos,  or  front  chamber,  is  narrower  than  the 
cella  or  shrine  behind  it,  and  forms  a  sort  of  porch  to  it.  This 
is  an  instance  of  the  form  of  temple  called  prostylos  by 
Vitruvius,  and  consisting  of  a  broad  Tuscan  cella  with  a 
narrow  Greek  portico.^ 

The  cella  has  greater  breadth  than  depth.  The  basement 
is  of  considerable  height  in  front,  and  some  of  the  steps, 
Cicero's  Gradus  Concordise  ^  can  be  traced,  while  the  enormous 
threshold  of  African  marble  still  remains.  A  coin  of  Tiberius 
shows  us  that  the  temple  had  a  portico  of  six  columns  in  the 
Corinthian  style,  and  a  group  of  three  figures  embracing  as  a 

*  See  •*  Rome  and  the  Campagna,"  p.  91. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  xxix. 

'  Cic.  Phil.  vii.  cli.  8.  The  third  Catilinarian  oration  was  delivered 
here. 


•^:^ 


K.^.; 


THE  FORUM   ROMAN UM. 


63 


;i    of  fliA  ton      One  of   the  bases  of  the 
,«bol  of   concord,  atj^etop^    One^^.^^  Museum  and  a 

tlumus  l^^,f '\\.P^/;;';rtsto>-ed  by  Caniua,  showing  that  the 
ortion  of  t^J^»';«J''„\       eat  beauty.     The  inscription  is 
IjBcorative   work   was  oi  ^r  century,  and  the 

,en  in  the  Bmsiedeln  MS   of  t*^^  "^^"^^^^rv,  as  we  learn 
mile  was  still  standing  in  the  twelttn  cenxu    • 
;}i  aie  Ordo  Bomanus  a  i^ocession  ro^^^^^^  ^rrpos^in  the 
Jre  probably  earned  away  ?/  H'"'''\"-,J  simple  of  Con- 
^irte^nth  century,   mween  the  luiiisot^^^^^^^^  ^^  ^ 

Bili^^r:?  Cstr::;  W^S'   ^^e  name  has  been 

^^'^^l^-^rSSr^^^^^^ 
ijts'^been'iden^ified  of  late  years  with  the  church  of  S. 
lAdriano  near  the  arch^fSeveruB.       ^^^^  ^^  ^^^  ^  ^, 

Arch  of  Severus.    ^lobt:  Septimius  Severus, 

Concord  stands  ^etnum^^^^^^  The  side 

composed  ot  three  arcnwctp^a  pp^ifral  archway  by  small 

-•'^W^rthX^nntw^t  -S  :r:hed  Wriors  of 
openings  in  the  '"^^V^"",' °^^,,„.„  coffers  with  rosette  orna- 
all  three  are  decorated  by  square  cone  p,<,eonnesian 

ments.  On  each  side  «t^".'J,\°'''^„t?iTedestals  of  which  are 
marble  with  Composi^^e  -F^^^^btlSn  captives  clothed 
bas-reliefs  representing  'Ji'"''^, ,  ^  phrvgian  cap,  and 

in  breeches  j^"-! -*=^""S  ^^^^r^  weLtng  the  'lacerna.  The 
conducted  by   B^man   ^^^^lers   weai    g  ^^^^^  ^  ^^,, 

spandrils  of  the  arches  are  ^uf'^f °;^*^  r"  ^  ^u^gg  ^f  the 
of  Victory  and  symbols  of  captivity   >n  t^e  on 

riyer  gods  of  .tl^e  f  "J^;X::tJlVge  bS  rdief  sculptured 
of  outer  and  inner  pillars  there^a^^      g  ^^^^^^^  ,tyle.     The 

scenes  executed  in  a  yery  c""^  ,       ^jj^  goddess  Eoma 

£o-l--'--\ra;rortC^'Ct    wM^h  is  personified  by 
r:raltarrnra  Uara.     B^;nd^h^.^in  a^^^^^ 
carts  -VbTteurAbo^'h!:  t'roriine  of  figures 

rcrrls^u^fm^^^^^^^^^^ 

KS  i^SSLl^^^"^    on  the  side 
1  See  Middleton's  "  Ancient  Rome,"  i.  239. 


/ 


64 


ANCIENT  ROME. 


towards  the  Forum  is  represented  on  the  left  hand  the  raising 
of  the  Parthian  siege  of  Nisibis  in  northern  Mesopotamia 
by  Severus  after  he  had  crushed  his  rivals  ^Emilianus  and 
Pescennius  Niger  in  Pontus  and  Syria.  The  taking  of 
the  town  of  Carrse  west  of  Nisibis,  and  the  march  of  the 
Koman  army  thence  against  the  Adiabeuians  are  also  here 
portrayed.  The  compartment  on  the  right  hand,  looking  from 
the  Forum,  contains  a  bas-relief  representation  of  the  surren- 
der of  Abgarus,  king  of  Osroeue,'  and  the  siege  of  the  town  of 
Hatra  on  the  Tigris. 

On  the  other  side  towards  the  Capitol  and  so-called  Tabu- 
larium,the  second  campaign  of  Severus  in  the  East  is  portrayed. 
On  the  right  hand  the  flight  of  the  Parthians  from  Babylon, 
the  entry  of  the  Romans  into  the  city  and  the  second  siege 
of  Hatra  are  represented.  On  the  left  is  the  wresting  of  the 
towns  of  Seleucia  and  Ctesiphon  from  the  Parthians,  the  flight 
of  their  king  Artobanus  and  the  surrender  of  the  Arabians 
who  had  joined  the  Parthian  side." 

The  entablature  which  surmounts  these  arches  is  badly 
designed  and  executed,  the  projections  over  the  columns 
being  far  too  heavy.  Upon  the  attica  above  the  entablature 
there  are  the  traces  of  nails  on  the  corner  pilasters  which 
seem  to  have  borne  some  military  ensigns.  The  whole  central 
space  of  the  attica  is  occupied  by  a  long  inscription  formerly 
inlaid,  as  appears  from  the  rivets,  with  metal.  Upon  a  coin 
of  Severus  giving  a  representation  of  the  arch,  a  chariot  with 
six  horses  is  shown  standing  over  the  attica,  and  on  the  four 
comers  were  equestrian  statues. 

From  the  inscription  it  api)ears  that  the  arch  was  built  in 
the  year  a.d.  203.  The  repetition  of  the  title  Parthicus, 
points  to  the  Parthian  campaigns  of  Severus.  In  the  fourth 
line  the  name  of  Geta  and  his  titles  have  been  erased,  as  in 
other  ruins  of  the  same  date,  and  the  words  optimis  fortissi- 
MiSQUE  PRiNCiPiBUs  inserted  in  their  place.  In  the  middle 
ages  the  tower  of  a  church  called  SS.  Sergio  e  Bacco  was 
built  upon  the  top  of  this  arch,  but  was  removed  in  1536  on 
the  entry  of  Charles  V.  by  command  of  Pope  Paul  III. 
The   Graecostasis   and   Rostra. — Near  the  Arch  of 


H 


09 


> 


H 


^  Dion  Cass.  Ixxvii.  12. 

a  Herodian,  iu.  9,  10,  11.     Hist.  Aug.  Vit.  Sev.  9,  16,  17. 


66 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


Severus,  and  also  between  the  temple  of  Saturn  and  the 
corner  of  the  Basilica  Julia,  some  substructions  of  large 
peperino  stones  and  other  forms  of  building  have  been  dis- 
closed. These  may  have  belonged  to  pedestals  upon  which 
statues  were  placed,  or  in  the  case  of  those  near  the  arch  of 
Severus  to  the  later  Rostra  and  Grsecostasis,  and  in  the  case 
of  those  near  the  corner  of  the  Basilica  Julia  to  the  Arch  of 
Tiberius.  The  round  pedestal  which  stands  near  the  Arch  of 
Severus  was  possibly  the  pedestal  of  the  Miliarium  Aureum, 


^^^. 


\itn. 


Remains  of  the  Gr.ecostasis  and  Rostra. 

as  it  is  not  strong  enough  to  bear  the  weight  of  a  heavy 
statue.' 

A  representation  of  the  Rostra  of  the  Empire  which  stood 
here  is  given  in  the  relief  on  the  face  of  the  Arch  of  Constan- 
tine,  which  looks  towards  the  Coliseum,  where  three  arches 
are  seen,  corresponding  to  the  Arch  of  Severus  on  the  right, 
and  one  arch  corresponding  to  that  of  Tiberius  on  the  left. 
Constantine  is  shown  in  this  bas-relief  addressing  the  j^eople 
from  the  Rostra.     These  Rostra  and  Grsecostasis  have  now 

^  See  Parker's  Arch.Tol.  vol.  ii.  pi.  xi. 


\ 


THE   FORUM   ROMANUM. 


67 


III 


been  more  completely  excavated,  and  the  form  of  the  Rostra 
has  been  approximately  determined.^ 

The  Career. — Under  the  church  of  S.  Giuseppe  dei  Faleg- 
nami,  which  stands  near  the  Arch  of  Severus,  are  two  chambers, 
which  are  always  shown  as  the  ancient  prison  of  Rome,  said 
to  have  been  first  built  by  the  King  Ancus  Martins,  and  then 
rebuilt  or  enlarged  by  Servius  Tullius.  The  upper  of  these 
two  chambers  is  of  an  irregular  shape,  but  the  lower  is  con- 
structed in  a  conical  form  by  the  gradual  projection  of  the 
stones  forming  the  sides.  This  mode  of  building  an  arch  is 
of  very  early  date,  before  the  introduction  of  the  principle  of 
the  round  arch,  and  is  found  in  the  oldest  tombs  of  Etruria, 
and  in  well-houses  at  Tusculum  and  Caere. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  part  of  the  building  is  of 
great  antiquity.  But  the  proofs  that  it  ever  formed  a  prison 
are  not  so  clear.  This  has  been  inferred  from  the  striking 
account  by  Plutarch  of  the  imprisonment  of  Jugurtha,  who 
states  that  Jugurtha  was  placed  in  a  cell  with  water  at  the 
bottom,  and  exclaimed,  **  Hercules,  how  cold  your  bath  is  !  '* 
Hence  it  has  been  thought  that  the  prison  must  have  had 
water  in  it,  as  this  chamber  has. 

Another  proof  that  this  is  the  ancient  prison,  called  in  the 
Middle  Ages  the  Mamertine  prison,  from  a  statue  of  Mars  or 
Mamers,  or  from  the  Forum  Martis  near  it,  has  been  derived 
from  the  statements  of  many  Roman  authors,  who  place  the 
prison  on  the  slope  of  the  Capitol,  near  the  Forum,  and  speak 
of  an  inferior  as  well  as  a  superior  chamber.  The  prison 
was  probably  in  this  neighbourhood,  but  the  shape  of  the 
conical  vault  is  rather  that  of  a  well-house.  Mommsen  has 
therefore  suggested  that  this  was  the  original  purpose  of  the 
lower  chamber,  and  that  it  was  used  as  a  cistern  for  collecting 
the  water  from  the  surrounding  slopes.  Middleton,  who  thinks 
that  it  was  the  Career,  commonly  called  the  Tullianum,  agrees 
that  it  was  originally  a  well.^  The  top  of  the  ancient  conical 
vault  is  truncated  and  closed,  vdth  the  exception  of  a  round 
hole,  by  slabs  of  stone  fastened  together  with  iron  cramps. 

A  communication  with  the  arched  sewers  which  run  down 
to  the  Forum,  and  also  with  an  archway  which  reaches  up 
the  slope  to  some  large  chambers  on  the  north-west  under  the 

1  See  Middleton's  "  Ancient  Rome,"  i.  253. 
=*  See  ''Ancient  Rome,"  i.  153. 


i      \ 


68 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


THE   FORUM   ROMAN UM. 


69 


Vicolo  del  Ghettarello,  has  been  opened  by  Mr.  Parker,  and 
these  larger  vaulted  chambers  which  are  of  great  antiquity, 
have  been  taken  to  be  extensions  of  the  original  regal  j)rison. 
But  there  is  no  sufficient  evidence  to  show  that  those  arched 
passages  were  used  for  any  purpose  of  transit,  and  they  were 
more  probably  channels  for  draining  off  the  water,  which 
would  otherwise  have  accumulated  in  the  chambers  or  on  the 
sloj>es. 

An  inscription  is  fixed  in  the  outer  wall,  recording  a  restora- 
tion of  the  building  by  the  Consuls  C.  Vibius  Rufinus  and 
M.  Cocceius  Nerva,  as  ordered  by  a  decree  of  the  Senate. 
These  two  men  were  consules  suffecti  before  a.d.  24,  probably 
in  A.D.  22,  the  ninth  year  of  Tiberius.  But  the  name  of  the 
building  is  not  mentioned  in  this  inscription,  and  it  seems 
uncertain  whether  it  has  not  been  removed  from  elsewhere. 

There  was  another  and  larger  prison  in  this  district,  called 
the  Lautumiae.  Forty-three  iEtolian  prisoners  are  said  by 
Livy  to  have  l>een  crucified  in  the  Lautumiae,  which  must 
therefore  have  been  certainly  much  more  extensive  than  the 
cell  which  is  called  the  Career  Maraertinus.  Seneca  also 
mentions  the  request  of  a  prisoner,  Julius  Sabiuus,  that  he 
might  be  removed  from  the  Career  to  the  Lautumiae.*  There 
seems,  therefore,  to  be  hardly  any  distinct  proof  that  the 
conical  cell  was  ever  anything  more  than  a  water  tank,  and 
the  name  of  prison  which  has  been  attached  to  it  is  possibly 
a  mediaeval  legen<l  invented  to  indicate  a  spot  which  might 
be  venerated  as  the  prison  of  St.  Peter,  as  the  building  was 
not  consecrated  as  St.  Peter's  prison  before  the  ninth  century." 

Tabularium.— On  the  side  of  the  Capitoline  Hill  towards 
the  Forum,  a  very  high  and  wide  mass  of  building,  now  called 
the  Palace  of  the  Senator,  and  used  for  the  transaction  of  urban 
business,  stands.  This  is  founded  upon  an  ancient  range  of 
masonry  of  which  a  considerable  part  still  remains,  measuring 
about  220  feet  in  length,  and  50  feet  in  height.  An  entrance  has 
been  made  from  the  Via  del  Campidoglio,  and  as  the  wall  was 
cut  through  for  this  purpose,  the  structure  of  the  building  may 
be  best  observed  here.  On  the  inner  side  red  tufa  has  been 
used,  and  on  the  outer  grey  peperino,  and  the  blocks  are  laid 
alternately  length v/ise  and  crosswise,  as  in  the  Servian  wall 

*  Liv.  XXX vii.  .3.    Seneca,  Contr.  ix.  4,  21. 

*  Hemans'  "Rome,"  p.  110. 


building.  A  great  mass  of  masonry  of  this  sort  without 
cement,  forms  the  main  substructions  of  the  building.  Along 
the  front  run  the  traces  of  an  arcaded  passage,  which 
anciently  led  across  from  one  side  to  the  other  of  the  building. 
The  arches  were  walled  up  by  Nicolas  V.,  in  order  to  bear 
modern  buildings  above  them.  One  has  now  been  opened 
to  show  the  architecture.  A  pavement  of  basaltic  lava,  such 
as  was  used  in  the  streets  of  ancient  Rome,  has  been  found 


The  Tabularium. 

in  the  arcade,  showing  that  it  was  a  public  passage.  The 
architecture  of  the  building  is  Doric,  which  points  to  an  early 
date,  and  the  capitals  and  cornice  are  of  travertine.  It  is 
probable  that  another  arcade  ran  above  the  one  now  traceable. 
A  high  flight  of  steps  leads  up  into  the  chambers  from  the 
archway  now  walled  up  at  the  back  of  the  Temple  of  Vespasian. 
From  the  architecture  it  may  be  concluded  that  these  remains 
of  a  large  ancient  building  date  from  the  republican  times  of 
Rome,  and  are  almost  the  only  relics  of  that  era.     This  ruin 


70 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


is  generally  called  the  Tabularium,  but  it  has  been  shown  by 
Mommsen  that  there  is  no  ground  for  supposing  that  the 
name  was  ever  applied  to  it  in  any  ancient  writings,  and  that 
the  name  is  more  properly  jErarium  Populi  Romani,  or 
iErarium  Saturni,  and  that  it  was  attached  to  the  Temple  of 
Saturn.  Many  of  the  temples  in  Rome  had  aeraria  attached  to 
them,  and  it  does  not  appear  that  any  central  j)lace  of  deposit 
ever  had  the  name  of  Tabularium  alone,  without  further  title, 
esix'cially  applied  to  it.  The  inscription  which  has  been 
placed  at  the  entrance,  and  records  the  construction  of  some 
building,  or  part  of  a  building  by  Q.  Lutatius  Catulus,  when 
consul,  was  found  inside  or  at  the  gate,  and  placed  where  it 
now  stands  by  Canina.  It  is  suj^posed  by  Mommsen  to  refer 
to  the  repairs  and  alterations  of  the  vaults  under  the  Capitol, 
which  were  carried  out  in  ])ursuance  of  Sulla's  plan  of  im- 
provements on  the  Capitol,  and  after  Sulla's  death  were 
continued  for  many  years  by  Q.  Catulus.^ 

'  Corp.  Inscr.  Lat.  i.  oOl,  502.  Mominsen,  Ann.  Inst.  1858,  p.  211. 
Canina,  Koni.  Ant.,  p.  1290.  Virjrirs  use  of  the  plural  taUularia  is  not, 
therefore,  merely  ]>oetieal :  Georg.  ii.  502. 


CHAPTER  III. 


THE    COLISEUM    AND    ESQUILINE. 


Meta  Sudans. — On  the  road  from  the  Forum  Romanum  to 
the  Coliseum,  after  passing  through  the  Arch  of  Titus,  we 
descend  between  the  platform  and  ruins  of  the  Temple  of 
Venus  and  Rome,  and  the  remains  called  the  lavacrum  of 
Heliogabalus,  mentioned  previously  (p.  39),  and,  close  to  the 
south-western  corner  of  the  mass  of  substruction  on  the  left,  we 
find  a  conical  column  of  brick-work  about  30  feet  high.   A  large 
breach  on  the  side  towards  the  Coliseum  shows  that  the  centre 
was  pierced  with  a  perpendicular  pipe,  and  the  eastern  side 
exhibits  traces  of  having  been  divided  into  three  ledges  or 
stages.^    This  conical  building  stood  in  the  centre  of  a  circular 
basin,  the  ruin  of  which  has  been  traced  out  and  restored. 
The  shape  would  of  itself  point  to  the  purpose  which  this 
building  served,  even  if  this  were  not  rendered  clear  by  the 
remains  of  a  water-course  which  descended  to  it  from  the 
Esquihne.     The  name  Meta  Sudans,  by  which  the   ruin  is 
known,  comes  from  the  mediaeval  list  of  buildings  known  as 
the  Curiosum  Urbis,  but  the  earliest  authority  to  which  we 
can  appeal  for  its  date  is  a  coin  of  Alexander  Severus,  a.d.  222. 
The  passage  of  Seneca  in  which  he  gives  the  name  Meta 
Sudans   as   being   a    spot    at   which   the   flute-players   and 
trumpeters  made  a  din  by  their  practice,  does  not  give  us 
any  information  as  to  its  position,  and  therefore  we  are  not 
justified  in  assuming  that  the  fountain  was  erected  in  Nero's 
time.     The  coins  of  Titus  which  represent  the  Coliseum  do 
not  show  it.     Cassiodorus  and  other  chronologists  place  the 
date  of  the  Meta  Sudans  in  Domitian's  reign,  and  this  agrees 
with  the  coins  of  Titus  and  also  with  the  nature  of  the  brick- 
work, which  is  of  the  Flavian  era. 

^  See  illustration,  p.  34. 


THE  COLISEUM   AND   ESQUILINE. 


73 


H 

H 
© 

© 


O 

Si 

< 

X 

Sei 

© 

H 

© 


H 


X 


Arch  of  Constantine. — Near  the  Meta  Sudans  at  the 
entrance  of  the  Via  di  S.  Gregorio  stands  the  Arch  of  Con- 
stantine, the  most  completely  preserved  of  all  ancient 
Koman  buildings.  The  name  of  Constantine,  revered  by 
subsequent  ages,  seems  to  have  defended  the  archway  from 
the  barbarous  spoliation  which  attacked  most  of  the  great 
monuments  of  Rome.  The  most  interesting  feature  of  this 
arch  in  the  history  of  art  is  the  proof  which  it  gives  of  the 
decline  of  art  in  the  fourth  century.  Some  of  the  reliefs 
with  which  it  is  ornamented  were  taken  from  an  older  arch, 
probably  that  which  formed  the  entrance  to  Trajan's  Forum, 
and  those  which  are  of  Constantine's  time  show  a  coarse  and 
harsh  style  of  execution  in  lamentable  contrast  to  the  flowing 
and  delicate  lines  of  the  more  ancient  work  by  their  side. 

Among  the  sculptures  which  belong  to  the  earlier  and 
better  j^eriod  are  the  large  reliefs  under  the  central  arch  and 
those  which  are  placed  on  either  end  of  the  attica.  These 
four  were  originally  parts  of  a  larger  relief  which  has  been 
sawn  into  four  equal  pieces  for  the  purpose  of  adorning 
Constantine's  arch.  The  order  in  which  they  stood  in  the 
original  design  has  been  pointed  out  by  Bellori.  The  first 
part  is  that  now  placed  on  the  inside  of  the  middle  archway 
towards  the  Coliseum,  the  second  stands  on  the  side  of  the 
attica  over  the  arch  towards  the  Cselian,  the  third  on  the 
inside  of  the  middle  archway  towards  the  Palatine,  and  the 
fourth  upon  the  attica  on  the  same  side.  When  united  they 
represented  Trajan  crowned  by  Victory,  with  the  goddess 
Roma  standing  near ;  a  battle  between  Dacians  and  Romans, 
ending  in  the  defeat  and  submission  of  the  barbarian  army. 
The  dress  of  the  Roman  soldiers  and  of  the  Dacians  is  similar 
to  that  represented  on  Trajan's  column,  and  quite  different 
from  the  Roman  military  habit  in  the  age  of  Constantine. 
Besides  these  four  rectangular  reliefs  the  eight  circular 
sculptures  which  stand  over  the  smaller  archways  belong  to 
the  time  of  Trajan.  They  represent  hunting  scenes  and 
sacrificial  ceremonies.  The  eight  large  reliefs  upon  the  attica 
over  the  side  archways  are  also  of  the  workmanship  of  Trajan's 
time,  and  commemorate  some  of  the  exploits  of  that  emperor, 
among  which  may  be  mentioned  the  construction  of  a  road 
through  the  Pontine  marshes  represented  upon  the  second 
relief  from  the  left  on  the  side   of  the  attica  towards  the 


74 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


Coliseum.  The  reclining  figure  with  the  wheel  represents  the 
road,  and  the  other  figures  the  surveyors,  one  of  which  is 
perhaps  Apollodorus,  the  famous  Greek  architect  of  Damascus. 
The  other  reliefs  upon  the  sides  of  the  attica  re])reseut 
interviews  of  Trajan  with  barbarian  princes,  and  the  common 
sacrifice  of  the  Suovetaurilia,  so  frequently  depicted  on  the 
reliefs  of  the  columns  of  that  emperor,  and  also  on  the  large 
marble  screens  now  standing  in  the  Forum  Komanum.  The 
remainder  of  the  sculptures  belong  to  the  Constantinian 
era,  ajid  contain,  viewed  as  works  of  art,  nothing  worth 
attention.  One  of  them  on  the  side  next  to  the  Coliseum 
is,  however,  of  great  interest  to  the  antiquarian,  as  it  repre- 
sents the  rostra  of  the  later  Empire  and  the  northern  end 
of  the  Forum,  with  the  arches  of  Severus  and  Tiberius, 
and  the  end  of  the  Basilica  Julia,  and  another,  on  the  side 
towards  the  Via  di  S.  Gregorio  representing  the  victory 
jf  Constantine  over  Maxentius  at  the  Milvian  bridge,  is 
historically  valuable. 

The  figures  which  stand  in  front  of  the  attica  have  the 
Dacian  costume,  and  have  been  removed  from  some  one  of 
Trajan's  buildings.  Upon  the  side  of  the  central  archway  can 
be  still  seen  the  traces  of  nails  which  fastened  some  Roman 
ensigns  to  the  stones.  Similar  traces  of  nails  are  to  be  seen 
upon  the  arch  of  Severus  as  before  mentioned. 

The  inscriptions  over  the  smaller  arches  refer  to  the  decen- 
nalia  or  vicennalia,  a  festival  celebrated  after  the  time  of 
Augustus  every  ten  years  of  an  emi)eror's  reign  when  he  was 
supposed  to  have  the  imperium  conferred  upon  him  afresh. 
The  meaning  of  the  expression  votis  x.  votis  xx.  seems  to  be 
that  these  inscriptions  were  put  up  on  the  "  vota "  or  day 
when  vows  were  made  for  the  emperor's  safety  at  the  beginning 
of  the  tenth  and  twentieth  years  of  his  reign.  This  is  not  an 
uncommon  signification  of  the  word  "  vota  "  in  later  Latin. 
The  day  which  was  usually  called  vota  was  either  the  first  or 
third  of  January,  and  the  custom  of  offering  these  vows  was 
retained  long  after  Christianity  had  been  nominallv  made  the 
state  religion,  so  that  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  it  alluded  to 
on  Constantine's  arch.'  The  words  on  the  other  side  of  the 
arch  SIC.  x.  sic.  xx.  may  be  interpreted  as  the  form  of  words 

,J  See  Cafftubon's  note  on  Spartian,  Hist.  Aug.  p.  40  ;  Tac.  Ann.  vi. 
17 ;  x\i.  22. 


H 


Pm 


en 

O 
O 

b 

O 

X 

u 

« 


76 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


used  in  makiuor  vows  to  the  emperor.  "  Sic  x.  annos  regnet ; 
sic  XX.  annos  regnet."  "  May  his  reign  last  ten  years  more  or 
twenty  years." 

The  larger  inscription  which  is  cut  upon  the  attica  on  both 
sides  shows  that  the  arch  was  erected  in  honour  of  the  victor}- 
of  Constantine  over  Maxentius,  and  the  union  of  the  empire 
under  one  sovereign.  It  is  not,  however,  certain  that  the 
arch  was  built  in  the  first  year  of  Constantine's  sole  reign,  for 
not  only  do  the  words  instinctu  divinitatis  "  by  inspiration 
of  the  Deity,"  seem  to  indicate  a  more  decided  leaning  to 
Christianity  than  Constantine  showed  at  the  beginning  of  his 
reign,  but  the  title  of  Maximus,  which  is  found  in  the  inscrip- 
tion, does  not  occur  in  the  coins  of  Constantine  before  the 
tenth  year  of  his  reign. 

The  solid  contents  of  this  arch,  as  may  be  seen  by  ascending 
the  staircase  which  is  entered  by  a  door  at  some  height  from 
the  ground  at  the  end  nearest  the  Palatine  Hill,  are  mainly 
composed  of  pieces  of  marble  taken  from  other  buildings,  and 
it  has  even  been  suspected  that  the  plan  itself,  which  in  beauty 
of  proportion  suri)asses  the  Arch  of  Severus,  was  borrowed, 
together  with  the  materials,  from  Trajan's  Arch  or  some  older 
building  now  destroyed. 

The  Coliseum. 

We  now  pass  from  the  Arch  of  Constantine,  with  its 
borrowed  ornamentation,  to  the  great  ruin  of  Eome,  the 
Coliseum,  or  Flavian  Amphitheatre.  Although  two-thirds  of 
the  original  building  have  disappeared  under  the  shameful 
treatment  to  which  the  barbarous  nobles  of  the  middle  ages 
subjected  it,  enough  still  remains  to  show  the  arrangement 
of  the  entrances,  passages,  and  seats  of  this  wonderful 
construction.  The  plan  of  the  whole  may  be  best  described 
as  consisting  of  three  principal  massive  concentric  elliptical 
arcades.  The  intervals  between  each  of  these  are  filled 
in  with  other  arched  work  containing  corridors  and  stair- 
cases, and  between  the  innermost  of  these  three  arcades  and 
the  wall  which  surrounded  the  arena  was  a  triple  system 
of  substruction  supporting  the  lower  parts  of  the  rows  of 
seats  in  the  amphitheatre.  The  stone  used  throughout  is 
travertine,  with  the  exception  of  some  interior  work  of  brick 


X 
r. 


< 
X 


u. 


o 


78 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


and  concrete,  and  some  pumice-stone  in  the  arches.  The 
elliptical  8ha{)e  was  probably  chosen  instead  of  the  circular  in 
imitation  of  the  amphitheatre  of  Curio,  which  was  composed 
of  two  semicircular  theatres  with  their  stages  between  them. 
The  name  Coliseum  was  possibly  derived  from  the  great 
colossal  statue  of  Nero  which  for  a  long  time  stood  close  to 
the  Flavian  Amphitheatre,  and  when  the  real  history  of  the 
amjihitheatre  was  lost,  would  naturally  become  the  most 
prominent  mark  by  which  it  could  be  designated.  This 
colossal  statue  was  placed  originally  in  the  vestibule  of  Nero's 
Golden  Palace,  and  was  120  feet  high,  according  to  Suetonius. 
The  material  was  bronze  and  the  artist  was  Zenodorus.  It 
appears  that  Vesimsian,  and  afterwards  Hadrian,  moved  the 
colossus  to  make  room  for  their  new  buildings,  and  that  it 
was  finally  placed  upon  the  massive  pedestal  of  brickwork 
which  still  remains  on  the  north  of  the  Coliseum.  That  it 
actually  stood  upon  this  pedestal  is  shown  by  a  coin  of 
Alexander  Severus,  whi(;h  represents  the  Coliseum  with  the 
colossus  close  to  it.  It  is  said  by  Gibbon  that  the  name 
Coliseum  was  also  given  to  the  amphitheatre  at  Capua  without 
reference  to  a  colossal  statue.  The  Capuan  title  may,  however, 
have  been  taken  from  the  Roman. 

The  major  axis  of  this  huge  amphitheatre,  from  one  outside 
wall  to  the  other,  measures  602  feet,  the  minor  507.  The 
principal  outer  wall  is  157  feet  in  height,  and  is  divided  into 
four  stories.^  Of  these  the  lowest  stands  on  a  substruction 
of  two  steps,  and  originally  consisted  of  an  arcade  of  eighty 
arches,  between  which  stood  half  columns  of  the  Doric  order. 
These  outer  arches,  with  the  exception  of  thirty-three  arch- 
ways, have  disappeared.  Upon  these  rests  a  very  simple  en- 
tablature without  any  of  the  usual  peculiarities  of  the  Doric 
style,  and  rather  belonging  to  the  Ionic,  a  mixture  of  styles 
not  very  rare  in  Rome.'  The  arches  are  all  numbered.  These 
numbers  were  probably  intended  to  correspond  to  those  upon 
the  entrance  tickets  and  rows  of   seats,  in  order  that   the 

*  The  ffreat  amphitheatre  at  El  Djenmi  in  Tunis  is  480  feet  by  420 
and  102  feet  in  height,  that  at  Pola  in  Istria  437  by  346  feet  and  97 
feet  m  height.  Shaw's  "Travels,"  i.  p.  220.  Ann.  dell'  Inst.  1852. 
Allason  s  Pola. 

=*  The  tomb  of  Scipio  Barbatus  in  the  Vatican  is  another  curious 
instance  of  this  mixture  ofDoric  and  Ionic  decorative  forms. 


THE  COLISEUM  AND   ESQUILINE. 


79 


spectators  might  find  their  proper  seats  with  ease.  There  is 
a  staircase  and  a  vomitorium  corresponding  to  every  four 
arches,  and  the  vomitoria  as  well  as  the  entrance  arches  were 
all  numbered  to  prevent  confusion.  A  ticket  for  the  amphi- 
theatre at  Frosinone  has  been  found.  It  bears  an  inscription 
CAN.  VI.  IN.  X.  VIII.,  thus  giving  the  position  and  number  of 
the  seat.  The  arches  which  stood  at  the  extremities  of  the 
minor  axis  were  the  approaches  to  the  imperial  pavilions. 
They  were  ornamented  with  marble  columns  and  carved 
work  on  the  exterior,  and  led  in  the  interior  to  a  large 
withdrawing-room,  from  which  there  was  a  separate  passage 
to  the  emperor's  throne  (pulvinar)  on  the  podium.  On  the 
Esquiline  side  the  imperial  entrance  may  still  be  recognized 
by  a  slight  projection  in  the  substructions,  and  by  the  pillars 
of  white  marble  lying  near  it,  which  originally  stood  on  each 
side.  The  same  arrangement  was  doubtless  made  on  the 
Caelian  side,  where  the  Emperor  Commodus  made  himself  an 
underground  approach.  The  other  two  principal  entrances 
at  the  extremities  of  the  major  axis  lead  directly  into  the 
arena,  and  were  probably  used  for  the  entry  of  processions 
or  marching  bodies  of  gladiators,  or  machines  of  various 
kinds. 

The  entablature  of  the  first  story  is  surmounted  by  an 
attica,  with  projections  corresponding  to  the  columns  below. 
Above  these  stand  the  arches  of  the  second  story,  between 
which  half -columns  of  the  Ionic  order  are  placed.  The 
details  of  the  architecture  here  are  in  a  very  meagre  style, 
for  the  spiral  lines  on  the  volutes  are  omitted,  and  also  the 
usual  toothed  ornaments  of  the  entablature.  The  same 
remark  applies  to  the  third  story,  the  half -columns  of  which 
have  Corinthian  capitals  with  the  acanthus  foliage  very 
roughly  worked.  The  fourth  story  has  no  arches,  but  consists 
of  a  wall,  pierced  with  larger  and  smaller  square  windows 
placed  alternately,  and  is  decorated  with  pilasters  of  the  Com- 
posite order.  Between  each  pair  of  pilasters  three  consoles 
project  from  the  wall,  and  above  these  are  corresponding 
niches  in  the  entablature.  The  purpose  of  these  was  to  sup- 
port the  masts  upon  which  the  awnings  were  stretched. 

The  second  and  third  of  the  principal  concentric  walls 
contain  arches  corresponding  to  those  in  the  outer  wall. 
Con-idors  run  between  these  concentric  walls,  and  on  the  first 


80 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


and  second  floors  of  the  outer  ring,  and  the  first  floor  of  the 
inner  ring,  these  circles  afford  a  comi>letely  unobstructed 
passage  all  round.  The  other  corridors  are  blocked  up  in 
parts  by  various  staircases,  leading  to  the  ui)per  rows  of 
seats. 

Within  the  third  principal  concentric  arcade  the  supports 
of  the  building  take  the  form  of  massive  walls,  radiating  from 
the  centre  of  the  ellipse,  and  divided  by  elliptical  corridors 
into  three  ranges.  Between  these  massive  walls  and  in  the 
corridors  are  the  steps  and  passages  leading  to  the  lower 
seats  of  the  amj^hitheatre.  The  actual  seats  which  were  of 
marble  have  been  all  i)ilfered  for  the  benefit  of  the  Eoman 
palaces  and  churches  of  the  feudal  ages,  but  we  can  still 
make  out  with  tolerable  certaintv  the  five  princiiml  divisions 
into  which  they  were  separated.  The  lowest  of  these,  called 
the  podium,  was  a  platform  raised  12  or  15  feet  above  the 
arena,  ui)on  which  were  placed  the  chairs  of  the  higher 
magistrates  and  dignitaries.  This  was  protected  by  railiucrs 
and  nets  full  of  sj)ikes,  and  sometimes  also  bv  trenchers 
called  euri]>i,  and  horizontal  bars  of  wood  or  iron  which 
turned  freely  round,  and  thus  afforded  no  hold  to  the  paws 
of  a  wild  animal. 

Above  the  i)odium  were  four  different  orders  of  seats, 
divided  by  belts  of  upright  masonrv  from  each  other.  The 
first  of  these  consisted  of  about  twenty  rows  of  seats,  and  was 
appropriated  to  the  knights  and  tribunes,  and  other  state 
officers.  The  upi)er  row  of  this  set  was  probably  at  a  heic^ht 
of  about  ten  feet  above  the  top  of  the  arches  of  the  lowest 
story.  The  next  ranges  of  seats  between  the  second  and  third 
belt  were  appropriated  to  Koman  citizens  in  general,  and  held 
the  greatest  number  of  spectators. 

The  wall  dividing  these  seats  from  the  next  set  was  verv 
high,  and  contained,  besides  the  vomitoria  and  entrance  doors 
a  number  of  windows  for  the  purpose  of  lighting  the  corridors 
and  passages.  A  considerable  part  of  this  wall  is  still  extant 
upon  the  side  towards  the  Esquiline  Hill.  Above  it  ran  the 
third  set  of  seats,  occupied  by  the  lower  classes  of  the  people 
and  above  this  again,  and  separated  from  it  by  a  very  low 
wall  without  vomitoria,  was  the  fourth  group  of  seats,  im- 
mediately under  the  windows  of  the  uppermost  story  and 
<Jovered  by  a  portico  which  ran  round  the  whole  top  of  the 


THE  COLISEUM  AND   ESQUILINE. 


81 


building.*  The  traces  of  this  uppermost  row  of  seats  and  of 
the  colonnade  which  supported  the  portico  may  still  be  seen 
on  the  side  tow^ards  the  Esquiline  Hill. 

The  seats  in  this  part  seem  to  have  been  partly  appro- 
priated to  women,  partly  to  the  lower  classes.  On  the  roof  of 
the  portico  stood  the  workmen  whose  business  it  was  to 
manage  the  awnings,  and  to  move  them  as  the  sun  or  rain 
required.  The  number  of  seats  in  the  whole  amphitheatre  is 
said  to  have  been  87,000,  and  a  considerable  number,  in  addi- 
tion to  these,  could  stand  in  the  passages  between  the  seats 
at  the  entrances  of  the  vomitoria,  and  in  other  vacant  places, 
so  that  the  whole  number  which  the  building,  when  filled 
from  top  to  bottom,  could  hold,  was  probably  not  less  than 

90,000. 

The  exterior  wall  of  the  building  diminishes  in  thickness 
towards  the  top,  in  order  to  render  it  more  stable,  and  while 
the  Doric  and  Ionic  columns  of  the  first  and  second  stories 
stand  out  from  the  wall  by  nearly  three-quarters  of  their  cir- 
cumference, the  third  row  of  Corinthian  columns  projects  less, 
and  the  uppermost  row  are  merely  pilasters. 

Much  discussion  has  been  raised  on  the  question  of  the 
awnings  or  velaria  required  for  so  large  a  space.  It  is 
impossible,  of  course,  in  the  absence  of  any  distinct  con- 
temporaneous description,  to  discover  the  exact  mode  of 
suspension  adopted.  Venuti  supposes  that  a  net  of  cords 
constructed  like  a  spider's  web,  with  both  radiating  and 
concentric  ropes,  was  suspended  over  the  amphitheatre,  and 
that  by  pulleys  arranged  over  this  the  vela  was  drawn  across 
any  part  which  happened  to  be  exposed  to  the  sun.  By 
means  of  pulleys  attached  to  this  network  of  rope,  the  little 
boys  mentioned  by  Juvenal  as  caught  up  to  the  awnings 
may  have  been  drawn  up.  The  ropes  and  pulleys,  we  are 
told  by  Lampridius,  were  managed  by  sailors.  In  rough  and 
windy  weather  the  awnings  could  not  always  be  drawn, 
and  umbrellas  coloured  according  to  the  favourit^e's  colours, 
or  large  broad-brimmed  hats  called  causiae  or  birri,  were  then 
used.     Martial  has  written  some  amusing  epigrams,  showing 

^  This  portico  is  shown  in  the  medals  of  Titus  and  Alexander 
Severus.  The  remains  of  a  similar  portico  exist  in  the  amphitheatre 
at  Thysdnis  (El  Djemm)  in  Tunis.  See  Canina  in  the  Ann.  dell'  Inst. 
1852,  tav.  d'agg.  U. 


82 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


how  jealously  the  seats  appropriated  to  any  particular 
privileged  order  were  reserved.  He  gives  the  names  of 
Lectius  and  Oceanus  to  the  boxkeepers  of  his  time,  who 
chased  intruders  from  the  seats  to  which  they  were  not 
entitled.  And  he  describes  with  great  humour  the  attempts 
of  a  certain  Nanneius  to  smuggle  himself  into  a  better  place 
than  he  was  entitled  to.  The  pickpockets  of  Martial's  time 
also  frequented  the  amphitheatre. 

The  anxiety  of  the  public  to   attend  the  shows   was   so 
great  that  they  occupied  the  free  seats  in  the  amphitheatre 
before  dawn  in  the  morning,  and  gave  fees  to  the  officials 
to  keep  places  for  them,  when  any  favourite   gladiator  or 
bestiarius   was  announced  to  i)erforni.      The   shows   lasted 
whole  days,  and  hence  various  contrivances  for  keeping  the 
spectators   in   good   humour,   and   filling   up   the    intervals 
between  the  combats.    Seneca  tells  us  of  the  meridiani,  a  class 
of  slaves  who  were  kept  on  purpose  to  fill  up  the  midday 
leisure  hours  with  sham  fights,  and  ludicrous  pranks  played 
upon  the  bodies  of  those  killed  or  half  killed  in  the  previous 
fights.     The  air  was  cooled  with  immense  jets  of  water  pro- 
jected from  the  centre  of  the  arena,  or  from  holes  in  the 
statues,  and  scented  with  fragrant  essences,  among   which 
extract  of  saffron  mixed  with  wine  seems  to  have  been  the 
most  popular. 

The  arena  of  the  Coliseum  was  originally  about  250  feet 
m  length,  and  150  feet  in  breadth.     It  seems  now  much 
Urger  on  account  of  the  removal  of  the  wall  of  the  podium. 
The  attention  which  has  been  drawn  to  the  arena  during  the 
last  few  years  by  the  re-opening  of  the  hypogsea,  or  subter- 
ranean passages,  renders  it  necessary  to  allude  to  the  subject 
of  these  hypogsea,  and  to  estimate  how  far  the  recent  excava- 
tions have  thrown  new  light  upon  the  history  and  construc- 
tion of  the  great  amphitheatre.     When  the  French  occupied 
Rome,  and  it  was  incorporated  into  their  empire  in  the  four 
years  preceding  the  Battle  of  Waterloo,  the  French  Govern- 
ment earned  out  considerable  excavations  in  the  arena  of  the 
Coliseum,  and  besides  clearing  the  podium  and  the  chambers 
annexed  to  it,  they  opened  the  cryptoporticus  which  runs 
underground  towards  the  Cselian  Hill,  and  also  discovered  the 
passages  beneath  the  arena  which  have  been  now  excavated 
again. 


THE   COLISEUM  AND   ESQUILINE. 


83 


A  great  controversy  was  raised  at  that  time  as  to  the  real 
level  of  the  original  arena  between  several  of  the  archaeological 
professors  and  antiquarians  of  Rome.  The  same  controversy 
has  now  been  again  revived,  and  the  same  questions  as  to 
the  probable  date  of  the  underground  constructions  have 
been  again  raised,  but  with  as  little  hope  as  ever  of  arriving 
at  a  satisfactorv  solution.  The  truth  seems  to  be  that,  as  in 
most  amphitheatres,  these  hypogaea  were  constructed  at  the 
verv  first  erection  of  the  Coliseum,  but  have  been  altered, 
neglected,  filled  \x]),  and  again  cleared  out  many  times  during 
the  eventful  history  of  the  building,  and  that  it  has  now 
become  impossible  to  trace  the  various  stages  of  such  destruc- 
tions and  restorations.  As  often  as  the  drains  which  were 
intended  to  carry  off  the  water  became  choked  and  failed  to 
act,  these  lower  chambers  and  passages  were  filled  with  water 
and  rendered  useless. 

The  French  excavations  conducted  in  the  early  part  of 
this  century,  1810-1814,  showed  the  general  character  of  the 
chambers  and  passages  under  the  arena.  They  consist  of  one 
central  passage  which  extends  under  the  arena  from  end  to 
end  in  the  line  of  the  major  axis  of  the  ellipse.  Parallel  to 
this  there  are  four  narrower  rectilineal  passages  on  each  side 
connected  with  each  other  by  archways  and  surrounding 
these  are  three  curved  j^assages  following  the  elliptical  curves 
of  the  sides  of  the  amphitheatre.  The  material  of  which 
these  walls  were  originally  built  was  great  blocks  of  traver- 
tine similar  to  those  in  the  surrounding  construction  of  the 
amphitheatre,  but  they  have  been  patched  and  propped  in 
many  places  with  tufa  stones  and  brick,  and  now  present  a 
strange  miscellaneous  mass  of  masonry.  These  underground 
passages  are  similar  to  those  found  under  the  arena  at 
Pozzuoli  and  Capua.  It  would  seem  that  they  must  have  been 
necessary,  in  addition  to  the  chambers  under  the  staircases 
of  the  building,  for  keeping  wild  beasts  in  large  numbers,  or 
for  marshalling  and  arranging  the  long  processions  which 
were  sometimes  exhibited  in  the  arena,  or  for  other  unusual 
exhibitions  requiring  more  room  for  preparation  than  could 
be  otherwise  afforded.  In  the  amphitheatre  at  Verona  the 
passages  under  the  arena  seem  to  have  served  the  purpose  of 
drains,  as  they  are  much  less  extensive  than  those  under  the 
Coliseum,  and  are  apparently  connected  with  the  channels 


84 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


THE   COLISEUM  AND  ESQUILINE. 


85 


which  conducted  the  rain-water  from  the  upper  part.  The 
same  is  the  case  with  those  at  Pola  in  Istria,  but  at  Pozzuoli 
and  at  Capua  the  hypo^sea  are  of  a  similar  character  to  those 
in  the  Coliseum,  and  were  evidently  used  in  connection  with 
the  exhibitions  on  the  arena. 

The  excavations  of  1810-1814  do  not  seem  to  have  been 
carried  deep  enough  to  show  the  floor  of  the  hvpogsea,  and 
among  the  principal  new  objects  of  antiquarian  'interest  dis- 
covered by  the  recent  operations  have  been  some  large  blocks 
of  travertine  sunk  in  the  floor  of  the  passages,  and  pierced  in 
their  centre  with  large  round  holes.  These  holes  have  evidently 
been  the  sockets  into  which  upright  posts  of  some  kind  were 
fixed.     In  some  of  these  sockets  a  metal  lining  still  remains, 
and  in  one  of  them  the  remains  of  a  wooden  post  are  said  to 
have  been  found.     Many  conjectures  as  to  the  purpose  of 
these  sockets  have  been  hazarded.    They  have  been  imagined 
to  be  the  |)oints  on  which  revolving  doors  turned,  or  the  holes 
into  which  posts  for  chaining  wild  beasts  were  fixed,  or  the 
capstans  for  the  pur])ose  of  winding  the  ropes  attached  to 
stage  machines.     The  explanation  which  appears  to  me  to  be 
the  most  i)rol)able  is  that  they  were  used  for  the  erection  of 
temporary  wooden  posts  in  the  some  way  in  which  at  the  pre- 
sent time  such  movable  posts  are  used  in  some  of  the  doorways 
of  large  houses  in  Rome,  to  divide  the  doonvay  temi)orari*ly 
into  two  distinct  passages,  by  attaching  a  rope  to  the  posts. 
When  long  processions  had  to  be  marched  across  the  arena  it 
would  be  necessary,  if  they  were  marshalled  below,  to  have 
the  course  of  the  entering  processionists  and  of  those  returning 
kept  apart  by  some  such  device  as  that  of  a  roj^e  stretched 
between  posts  of  this  kind. 

A  large  wooden  framework  has  been  found  in  the  central 
passage,  blackened  by  long  exposure  to  the  water.  This 
seems  to  have  been  a  contrivance  for  making  an  inclined 
plane  on  which  heavy  machines  could  be  dragged  up  from 
below. 

Another  discovery-  which  has  been  made  is  that  of  two 
cryptoporticus,  one  of  which  extends  towards  the  Esquiline 
and  the  Thermae  of  Titus,  and  the  other  opens  out  from 
under  the  eastern  end  of  the  longer  axis  of  the  CoHseum. 
A  few  graffiti  of  interest  representing  gladiatorial  figures, 
and  some  fragments  of  inscriptions  relating  to  restorations  of 


the  building,  or  to  the  munificence  of  those  who  indulged 
the  public  with  amphitheatrical  exhibitions,  have  also  been 

found. 

The  mode  in  which  the  naval  contests  mentioned  by  Dion 
Cassius  as  having  been  exhibited  in  the  Coliseum  were  con- 
ducted, cannot  be  stated  with  any  certainty.  They  were  given 
by  Titus  at  the  dedication  of  the  building  and  probably  before 
its  completion,  so  that  the  space  now  occupied  by  the  hypogaea 
may  then  have  been  filled  with  water  previously  to  the  con- 
struction of  the  dividing  walls. 

Perhaps  no  building  of  ancient  Rome  is  so  strikingly  cha- 
racteristic of  the  builder,  and  the  age  in  which  he  lived  as 
the  Flavian  amphitheatre.  Vespasian  is  described  by  histo- 
rians, and  represented  on  coins,  and  in  extant  sculptures,  as  a 
thick-set,  square- shouldered  man,  with  a  short  neck,  small 
eyes,  strongly  marked  but  coarse  features  wearing  an  expres- 
sion of  effort.  He  cared  little  for  the  elegancies  of  life,  and 
was  j)lebeian  in  his  tastes,  and  regardless  of  appearances,  but 
set  a  high  value  on  manliness  and  obstinate,  unflinching 
endurance. 

During  his  reign  the  prevalent  feeling  in  the  Roman  nation 
was  that  of  a  worn-out  and  repentant  prodigal.  Sick  of  the 
frivolity  and  wanton  debauchery  of  the  Neronian  age,  yet 
unable  to  return  to  the  ascetic  simplicity  of  primitive  times, 
men  adored,  for  want  of  a  better  idol,  the  blunt  honesty  and 
coarse  strength  of  the  Flavians.  What  if  their  emperor 
wished  that  his  courtiers  should  smell  of  garlic  rather  than  of 
perfumery,  if  in  his  contempt  for  speculative  genius  he  dubbed 
the  agitating  philosoj^hers  of  his  day  "barking  curs."  ^  Yet 
he  stood  before  them  as  a  proof  that  the  stern  old  vigour  of 
the  national  character  was  not  yet  extinct,  and  that  the  profli- 
gate effeminacy  of  the  previous  generation  had  not  yet  rotted 
the  Roman  character  to  its  core.  The  same  massive  power  of 
endurance,  yet  ponderous  and  vulgar  character,  belongs  to 
the  architecture  of  the  Coliseum.  It  exhibits  a  neglect, 
almost  a  contempt  for  elegance  of  proportion.  The  upper 
tiers  are  as  heavy  and  solid  as  the  lower.  Its  arcades  are 
massive,  practical,  built  to  last  for  ages ;  the  full,  elaborate 
details  of  the  Ionic  and  Corinthian  orders,  in  which  an  artistic 

*  Suet.  Vesp.  viii,  13. 


86 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


THE  COLISEUM  AND   ESQUILINE. 


87 


eye  usually  finds  so  much  pleasure,  are  merely  hinted  at  as 
sui)erfiuous. 

Doubtless  as  we  now  see  it,  the  ruin  is  far  more  effective 
than  the  complete  building  can  ever  have  been.  For  when 
complete  the  appearance  of  the  Coliseum  must  have  been 
heavy  and  oppressive.  The  enormous  unrelieved,  flat  surface 
of  the  upper  wall  must  have  seemed  ready  to  topple  over  or 
to  crush  the  arcade  below.  But  now  that  earthquakes  and 
barbarous  hands  have  made  such  ghastly  rents  in  its  sides, 
the  outline  has  become  more  varied,  and  the  base  more  pro- 
portioned to  the  superstructure,  so  that  although  we  can  still 
recognize  the  flavour  of  a  somewhat  vulgar  and  material  age, 
yet  all  that  would  have  offended  the  eye  has  been  removed,' 
and  the  historical  memories  which  cluster  around  its  walls,  of 
mighty  emperors  and  bloodthirsty  mobs,  of  screams  of  death 
or  triumph,  of  gorgeous  pageants  and  heroic  martyrdoms, 
combin«  to  render  the  Coliseum  in  its  decay  the  most  imposing 
ruin  in  the  whole  world. 

Two  architectural  merits   have   been   pointed  out  in  the 
Coliseum,  the  impression  of  height  and  size  conveyed  by  the 
tiers  of  arches  rising  one  above  another,  and  the  graceful 
curves  produced  by  the  continuous  lines  of  the  entablatures 
as  they  cross  the  building.     But  what  the  Roman  emperor 
under  whose  auspices  this  great  building  was  raised  would 
doubtless  have  valued  more  than  any  elegancies  of  desi^m 
which  could  have  been  pointed  out  to  him,  is  the  perfect 
adaptation  of  the  structure  to  its  purposes.     After  the  great 
catastrophe  at  Fidenae  where  20,000  persons  were  injured 
or  killed  by  the  breaking  down  of  a  wooden  amphitheatre, 
solidity  and  safety  were  the  principal  requisites.    Free  ingress 
and  egress  for  crowds  of  spectators,  as  well  as  for  any  great 
personages  who  might  attend,  was  indispensable.     A*  glance 
at  the  plan  of  the  Coliseum  will  show  how  admirably  each  of 
these  objects  was  attained.     The  extraordinary  solidity  of  the 
building  removed  all  ix>ssibility  of  the  failure  of  any  part  to 
bear  whatever  weight  might  be   heaped    upon  it,  and  the 
entrances,  galleries  and  vomitoria  were  by  the  oval  form  of 
the  buildmg  rendered   so  numerous  that  each  seat   in  the 
whole  cavea  was  accessible  at  once  and  without  difficulty.     A 
system  of  carefully  arranged  barriers  in  the  passages  would 
effectually  prevent  confusion  and  excessive  crowding. 


In  endeavouring  to  adorn  the  great  amphitheatre  of  the 
metropolis  more  richly  than  those  of  the  provinces  its  architect 
defeated  his  own  object.  Some  of  the  provincial  amphitheatres, 
as  that  of  Capua,  though  in  other  respects  like  the  Coliseum, 
show  a  simpler  and  therefore  more  natural  exterior.  When 
the  Doric  order  is  retained  in  all  the  tiers,  it  harmonizes  far 
better  with  the  rude  strength  of  such  an  edifice  than  the 
Corinthian  and  Ionic  orders  of  the  Coliseum.  At  Verona  and 
Pola  a  still  further  improvement  is  made  by  the  rustication 
of  the  exterior.  At  Nismes,  on  the  other  hand,  the  faults  of 
the  Coliseum  are  aggravated  by  breaking  the  entablatures, 
and  introducing  pediments  over  each  front ;  and  in  the  small 
Amphitheatrum  Castrense  at  Rome,  where  the  Corinthian 
order  is  executed  in  brick,  a  lamentable  illustration  of  Roman 
want  of  taste  is  exhibited. 

The  holes  which  are  now  so  conspicuous  in  the  travertine 
blocks  of  the  exterior  wall  of  the  Coliseum  were  probably 
made  in  the  middle  ages  to  extract  the  iron  clamps  by  which 
the  stones  were  fastened  together.  Some  antiquarians  have, 
however,  held  that  they  are  the  holes  in  which  the  beams  of 
the  buildings  which  clustered  round  the  Coliseum  in  mediaeval 
times  were  fixed.  At  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  and  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  travertine  blocks  of  the 
amphitheatre  were  used  as  a  quarry  from  which  to  build 
palaces,  and  it  is  said  that  the  Palazzo  di  Venezia,  the 
Palazzo  Faruese,  and  the  Palazzo  della  Cancelleria  were  con- 
structed of  the  stone  robbed  from  hence.  During  part  of  the 
eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries  a  castle  of  the  powerful  family 
of  the  Frangipani,  which  afterwards  belonged  to  the  Anni- 
baldi  stood  in  the  walls  of  the  Coliseum.  Later  generations 
of  nobles  and  popes  since  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century  have  propped  the  building  by  buttresses  of  brick- 
work, and  have  endeavoured  to  postpone  the  date  foretold 
by  two  Anglo-Saxon  pilgrims  as  that  of  the  fall  of  Rome. 
"  When  the  Coliseum  falls,  Rome  will  fall."  ' 

»  GiblKin,  '*  Decline  and  Fall,"  ch.  Ixxi. 


'i 


88  ANCIENT   ROME. 


The  Esquiline. 

Aurea  Domus  of  Nero.  Baths  of  Titus.— The  Coli- 
seum was  built  by  Vespasian  in  a  depression  between  the 
Cselian  and  Esquiline  Hills,  which  had  been  occupied  bv  a 
large  lake  of  ornamental  water,  called  the  Stagnum  Neronis, 
used  by  Nero  for  aquarian  entertainments  and  exhibitions! 
The  vast  palace  known  as  the  Domus  Aurea  Neronis  extended 
along  the  side  of  the  Esquiline  on  the  north  of  the  Coliseum. 
The  Flavian  emperors  destroyed  this  palace,  and  Titus  built 
a  new  group  of  courts  and  chambers  over  the  ruins.  The 
relics  of  these  buildings  of  Titus  are  now  remaining  mingled 
with  the  substructures  and  lower  parts  of  the  Domus  Aurea 
which  they  superseded.  They  are  entered  bv  a  gateway  on 
the  road  leading  from  the  Coliseum  to  S.  Pietro  in  Vincoli. 

So  far  as  we  can  draw  any  conclusion  from  the  fragmentary 
and  confused  piles  of  ruins  now  left,  and  from  the  plan  which 
Palladio  sketched  at  a  time  when  the  remains  of  the  palace 
had  not  so  completely  disappeared,  it  seems  that  this  part  of 
Nero's  palace  consisted  of  a  long  straight  facade  of  buildings 
extending  along  the  slope  of  the  Esquiline  from  east  to  west 
m  the  direction  marked  on  the  plan  (a— b).     In  front  of  this 
there  seems  to  have  been  a  projecting  court  surrounded  by 
small  chambers  (c— d).     A  few  of  these  still  remain  at  the 
western    end,   and   are   used   as  a  dwelling-house   for  the 
custode.     Behind  the  above-mentioned  facade  were  numerous 
rooms  of  various  kinds,  and  courts  surrounded  with  colon- 
nades.     One  of  these  courts  with  its  adjacent  corridors  and 
apartments  is  now  partly  accessible  (e,  f),  but  the  greater 
part  were  filled  in  with  rubbish  when  the  baths  of  Titus  were 
built  over  them,  and  have  never  been  entirelv  cleared.     In 
the  centre  of  this  court  the  remains  of  a  fountain-basin  and  a 
pedestal  may  be  seen.     The  area  is  now  traversed  by  parallel 
walls  built  by  Titus  to  serve  as  substructions  to  his  Thermse. 
These  are  indicated  on  the  plan  by  the  dotted  lines  in  black. 
All  the  rooms  in  this  part  which  are  now  accessible  have 
arched  roofs,   and   are  covered  with   decorative    paintings. 
Fortunately  a  great  number  of  these  have  been  preserved  to 
us  by  artists  who  copied  them  before  they  were  destroyed  by 
damp  and  the  soot  of  the  cicerone's  torch.     At  the  present 


) 


THE   COLISEUM  AND   ESQUILINE. 


89 


time  scarcely  enough  remains  to  show  the  beauty  and  delicacy 
of  the  designs.  The  best  preserved  paintings  are  in  the 
long  north  corridor,  where  is  also  an  inscription  illustrating 
Persius,  Sat.  i.  113. 

The  two  snakes  were  symbolic  of  the  Lares  Compitales,  and 
are  common  at  Pompeii.  Raphael  adopted  the  same  style  of 
ornamentation  as  that  preserved  here  in  the  Loggie  of  the 
Vatican.  The  rooms  now  shown,  which  contain  a  bath  and 
other  household  apparatus,  apparently  belonged  to  a  private 
house,  and  may  either  have  formed  a  pai*t  of  the  Aurea 
Domus,  or  of  some  house  built  on  its  site  at  the  time  im- 
mediately following  Nero's  death.  The  eleven  rooms  (f) 
which  occupied  the  north  side  of  the  court  (e)  contain  traces 
of  wooden  staircases  leading  to  an  upper  story.  The  decora- 
tions and  fittings  of  these  appear  to  have  been  so  inferior  to 
those  of  the  other  rooms,  that  we  must  suppose  them  to  have 
been  occupied  by  the  imperial  slaves,  or  by  the  household 
troops.  At  the  northern  end  of  this  row  of  chambers  is  a 
room  with  mosaic  pavement  at  a  considerably  lower  level 
than  those  surrounding  it,  and  which  must  therefore  have 
belonged  to  some  building  earlier  in  date  than  the  Domus 
Aurea.  It  is  sometimes  called  a  part  of  the  House  of 
Maecenas,  but  there  is  no  authority  for  this,  and  it  is  more 
probable  that  the  House  of  Maecenas  stood  nearer  to  the 
Agger  of  Servius. 

Sette  Sale. — Another  portion  of  the  Domus  Aurea  is 
still  visible  at  the  Sette  Sale,  a  large  brick  building  lying 
in  a  vineyard  to  the  left  of  the  Via  delle  Sette  Sale.  The 
purpose  of  this  was  plainly  to  serve  as  a  reservoir  for  water, 
and  it  is  shown  to  have  belonged  to  the  Domus  Aurea,  and 
not  to  the  Thermae  of  Titus,  by  the  correspondence  of  its 
position  with  the  ground-plan  of  the  former.  It  may  have 
been  afterwards  used  in  connection  with  the  Thermae,  and 
was  possibly  preserved  with  that  view,  while  the  rest  of  the 
palace  was  destroyed  or  buried.  The  peculiar  construction 
of  the  interior,  which  is  divided  into  nine  compartments, 
communicating  with  each  other  by  openings — not  placed 
opposite  to  each  other,  but  in  a  slanting  direction  across  the 
building — is  said  to  have  been  so  arranged  in  order  to  prevent 
the  heavy  mass  of  water  from  bursting  open  the  sides  of  the 
building.     The  group  of   the  Laocoon  was  found  near  the 


90 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


Sette  Sale,  and  it  is  supposed  that  the  state-rooms  of  Titus 
may  have  contained  that  group  of  statues. 

Thermae  of  Titus.— Returning  to  the  ruins  of  the  Baths 
of  Titus  near  the  Coliseum  it  may  be  observed  that  these 
Thermae  were  connected  with  the  Coliseum  by  a  portico, 
traces  of  which  can  still  be  seen  on  the  north*  side  of  the 
amphitheatre.  The  arrangement  of  the  building  corresponded 
m  some  degree  to  that  of  the  Baths  of  Caracalla,  consisting 
apj)arently  of  a  large  square  court  surrounded  bv  various 
offices  and  places  for  recreation,  in  the  centre  of  which  stood 
a  vast  mass  of  building  containing  the  bath-rooms.  The 
sides  of  this  court  were  not  parallelto  any  lines  of  building 
in  the  Domus  Aurea,  and,  therefore,  in  order  to  form  a  level 
area  many  new  substructions  had  to  be  erected.  This  is 
plainly  the  case  with  the  theatre  (a),  which  occupied  the 
centre  of  the  side  towards  the  Coliseum.  In  order  to  raise 
this  to  the  level  of  the  rest  of  the  area,  the  nine  huge  arched 
chambers,  which  are  now  a  most  conspicuous  part  of  the 
ruins,  were  erected,  and  one  of  the  courtvards  of  the  Domus 
Aurea  was  filled,  as  we  have  seen,  with  parallel  walls  of 
bnckwork.  On  each  side  of  the  theatre  there  were  probably 
gymnasia,  libraries,  or  ball  courts  (b  b).  The  central  building 
was  occui)ied  with  the  frigidarium  and  tepidarium,  and  the 
other  usual  adjuncts  of  a  large  Roman  bath  (c  c  c). 

The  catalogue  called  the  **  Curiosum  urbis  Romse  "  places 
not  only  the  Baths  of  Titus  but  also  those  of  Trajan  in  the 
^ird   region.      The   anonymous   MS.   of   Einsiedeln   places 
Trajani  Thermae  near  the  Church  of  S.  Pietro  in  Vincoli ; 
and  Anastasius  in  his  "  Life  of  Symmachus,"  mentions  them 
as  near  the  Church  of  S.  Martino.     It  is,  therefore,  abun- 
dantly proved  that  the  Thermae  of  Trajan  stood  at  the  back 
of  the  Baths  of  Titus,  and  it  is  here  that  we  find  them  placed 
m  the  plan  of  Palladio.     That  they  were  distinct  buildings 
seems  clear  from  an  inscription  in  which  they  are  separately 
mentioned.      A  satisfactory  explanation   of  the  apparently 
strange  fact  that  Trajan  erected  new  and  smaller  Thermae 
near  those  of  Titus  is  given  by  one  of  the  chronologers  of 
the  period,  who  speaks  of  the  Baths  of  Trajan  as  intended 
for  women,  for  whom  there  was  no  separate  accommodation 
provided  in  those  of  Titus.     The  scattered  ruins  to  the  north 
of  the  Baths  of  Titus  may  have  belonged  to  Trajan's  Baths. 


p.  90. 


A^^'^^F" 


^  /'.':^/i/}(iiiii<-i\\\W 


\'\^'^' 


:/;.\'f.imii<V'\\\\\ 


'^.#l#*^ 


1  :-^ 


^^^'a:^    x^^ 


iJ^t 


s$? 


m^'-^ 


^^^^^i>:-c. 


«s§^ 


§|S?&':^>- 


% 


■^r^li'li^ 


:^^>:   . 


The  Site  of  the 

AUREA    DOMUS   OF  NeRO 

AND  THE 

Baths  ofTitus. 


Th^rrrvet  Titi  et  Trcdajvi. 
Aurew  dxjnvuLS  et  stagmcrw  Nercmis. 


Ltfnjdxjw:  G.StU/Ji  Sons. 


¥.S.W«Uer,FJLG.S. 


THE   COLISEUM   AND   ESQUILINE. 


91 


On  the  Esquiline  Hill,  besides  the  Baths  of  Titus,  the 
Domus  A  urea,  and  the  Sette  Sale,  we  find  four  remarkable 
ruins,  which  are  called  the  Trophies  of  Marius,  the  Arch 
of  Gallienus,  the  Minerva  Medica,  and  the  Auditorium  of 
Maecenas. 

Trophies  of  Marius.— The  ruin  called  the  Trophies  of 
Marius  stands  at  the  comer  of  the  Via  di  S.  Bibiana.     It 
consists  in  the  lower  part  of  a  number  of  small  and  curiously- 
shajied  comjmrtmcnts  of  brickwork,  with  openings  at  seven 
or  eight  different  points.     Underneath  these,  and  now  hidden 
under  the  level  of  the  ground,  is  a  large  basin  or  tank,  and 
above  them  the  upper  part  of  the  building  is  formed  by  the 
remains  of  three  niches,  in  which  stood  the  marble  trophies 
now  placed  upon  the  balustrade  of  the  steps  of  the  Capitol. 
They  were  removed  to  the  Capitol  by  Sixtus  V.  in  the  year 
1585.    The  name  Trophies  of  Marius  is  an  attempt  to  explain 
the  more  ancient  name  of  Cimbrum,  which  we  find  attached 
to  the  ruin  in  the  middle  ages,  by  identifying  the  trophies 
with  the  Tropsea  Marii  mentioned  by  Suetonius  as  having 
been  pulled  down  by  Sulla  and  restored  by  Julius  Caesar.' 
But  although  we  must  allow  that  there  is  some  probability  in 
the  supposition  that  the  Marian  trophies  may  have  occupied 
these  niches,  yet  it  is  certain  that  the  building  itself  was 
intended  to  serve  another  purpose,  that  of  the  castellum  or 
principal  reservoir  of  an  aqueduct,  with  a  public  fountain  in 
the  form  of  a  cascade  in  front.     The  basin  which  has  been 
discovered  under  the  building,  and  the  peculiar  shape  of  the 
complicated  interior  structure,  can  be  best  explained  thus, 
and  the  remains  of  some  part  of  the  aqueduct  itself  may  be 
seen  at  the  back.    It  was  at  one  time  supposed  that  the  Aqua 
Julia  ended  here,  but  it  is  now  generally  acknowledged  that 
the  ruin  belonged  to  the  Aqua  Alexandrina,  and  that  the 
name  Nymphaeum  Alexandri,  found  in  the  catalogues  of  the 
fifth  region,  must  be  assigned  to  it.     The  Alexandrine  Aque- 
duct was  built  by  Alexander  Severus  in  the  year  a.d.  225. 
Water  was  brought  to  Rome  by  means  of  it  from  a  spot  near 
the  Lake  Regillus,  and  a  portion  is  still  visible  on  the  left 
hand  of  the  Via  Labicana  about  two  miles  from  Rome.     The 
level  of  this  aqueduct  corresponds  exactly  with  the  building 

*  Suet.  Jul.  ii.     Propert.  iv.  ii.  46. 


92 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


in  question,  and  the  style  of  brickwork  and  architecture  are 
such  as  might  belong  to  the  third  century.  It  is  possible,  as 
Reber  remarks,  that  Alexander  Severus  may  have  found  the 
exact  spot  where  the  Trophies  of  Marius  had  l)een  placed  by 
Julius  Csesar  convenient  for  the  castellum  of  his  aqueduct, 
and  have  used  the  trophies  to  ornament  the  new  building 
which  he  erected. 

Arch  of  Gallienus.— Close  to  the  Church  of  S.  Vito,  and 
spannmg  the  Via  di  S.  Vito,  stands  the  Arch  of  Gallienus, 
erected  by  M.  Aurelius  Victor,  prefect  of  Rome  in  a.d.  262,  in 
honour  of  the  Emperor  Gallienus  and  Empress  Salonina.  It 
18  constructed  of  travertine,  and  the  ornamental  work  upon  it 
18  extremely  simple,  consisting  only  of  pilasters  crowned  by 
roughly  worked  Corinthian  capitals,  and  surmounted  by  an 
entablature  of  the  commonest  kind.  Part  of  the  basement  is 
buried  under  the  present  level  of  the  soil,  and  from  a  sketch 
by  San  Gallo  of  its  state  in  the  fifteenth  century  there  appears 
to  have  been  a  pediment  above  the  entablature,  and  two 
smaller  archways  on  each  side.  The  inscription,  which  is  now 
hardly  legible,  is  cut  upon  the  architrave  and  contains  a 
flattering  description  of  one  of  the  most  singularly  accom- 
plished and  incapable  emi)erors  of  Rome,  of  whom  Gibbon 
says,  "  Gallienus  was  a  master  of  several  curious  but  useless 
sciences,  a  ready  orator  and  elegant  poet,  a  skilful  gardener, 
an  excellent  cook,  and  most  contemptible  prince."  ^ 

So-called  Temple  of  Minerva  Medica.— In  the  grounds 
of  the  Villa  Magnani,  which  are  reached  from  the  Via  di  S. 
Bibiana,  are  two  small  Columbaria,  one  of  which  formerly 
contained  inscriptions  relating  to  the  family  of  the  Arruntii, 
and  also  one  which  belonged  to  Statilius  Taurus,  a  nobleman 
mentioned  by  Tacitus.  This  was  decorated  with  scenes  from 
the  ^neid  of  Virgil,  but  these  are  nearly  destroyed.  In  the 
same  gardens,  not  far  to  the  north-west  of  the  Porta  Maggiore, 
stands  a  lofty  and  picturesque  ruin,  comprising  a  central 
decagonal  hall  surrounded  by  four  other  apartments,  the 
ground-plan  of  which  has  been  preserved  by  San  Gallo.  The 
central  hall  contained  nine  deep  niches,  *and  the  entrance 
passes  through  the  tenth  side.  Over  the  niches  and  the  entrance 
archway  are  round-headed  windows,  and  the  roof  was  of 


Giblon,  "  Decline  and  Fall,"  cli.  x. 


94 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


vaulted  brickwork.  Traces  still  remain  of  stucco  work  and 
<.-ement  on  the  inner  walls,  from  which  it  appears  that  they  were 
covered  with  ornamental  work  and  in  some  jiarts  with  marble. 

Parts  of  the  pavement,  which  was  of  porphyry,  have  also 
been  found,  and  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  ruin  a  number 
of  sculptures  have  been  at  various  times  discovered,  among 
which  are  statues  of  Pomona,  jEsculapius,  Adonis,  Venus, 
Hercules,  Antinous,  some  Lu}>erci,  and  a  Faun.  The  old 
toj)ographers,  Blondus  Flavins  and  Lucius  Fauuus,  give  the 
name  of  Terme  di  Galuccio  or  Galuzze  to  the  ruin,  and  this 
name  has  been  ingeniously  explained  as  referring  to  the 
Thermae  or  Basilica  of  Caius  and  Lucius.  But  there  is  no 
good  foundation  for  this  conjecture,  or  for  the  identification  of 
the  building  with  the  Temple  of  Minerva  Medica,  mentioned 
in  the  Notitia.  The  latter  name  was  derived  from  the  supposed 
discovery  here  of  the  Pallas  Giustiniani,  now  in  the  Braccio 
Nuovo  of  the  Vatican.  But  another  and  more  ancient  account 
asserts  that  the  statue  of  Pallas  was  found  near  S.  Maria 
sopra  Minerva,  and  therefore  the  name  of  Minerva  Medica 
cannot  with  any  certainty  be  applied  here. 

Canina  has  proposed  another  explanation  of  the  name 
Galuzze.  He  thinks  that  the  ruins  belonged  to  the  Palatium 
Licinianum,  which  is  mentioned  by  Anastasius,  in  his  "  Life 
of  Simplicius,"  as  near  the  Church  of  S.  Bibiana.  This  palace, 
he  thinks,  is  identical  with  the  Pleasure  Gardens  of  Gallienus, 
who  bore  the  name  of  Licinius,  in  which,  according  to  Tre- 
bellius  PoUio,  he  used  to  bathe  and  banquet  with  his  courtiers. 
The  name  Galuzze  is,  therefore,  according  to  Canina,  derived 
from  Gallieni  Liciniaria,  and  the  building  may  be  supposed 
to  have  formed  a  part  of  the  baths  in  Gallienus's  pleasure 
grounds,  resembling  as  it  does  in  its  construction  the  great 
rotunda  of  the  Baths  of  Caracalla.  The  proximity  of  the  Arch 
of  Gallienus  adds  probability  to  this  conjecture.  The  basin 
now  standing  in  the  ruin  is  not  ancient,  and  therefore  cannot 
be  held  to  support  this  conjecture,  but  the  brickwork  and  style 
of  architecture  are  said  by  competent  judges  to  be  such  as 
might  have  been  erected  at  the  time  of  the  later  Empire.  The 
building  called  Minerva  Medica  by  the  Notitia  may  have  been 
near  this  spot,  as  some  inscriptions  here  discovered  show,  but 
it  most  probably  consisted  only  of  a  chapel  of  no  great  extent 
standing  near  the  Via  Praenestina. 


THE  COLISEUM  AND   ESQUILINE. 


95 


The  extensive  alterations  which  have  been  carried  on  at 
Rome  during  the  last  few  years  in  the  district  at  the  back  of 
the  Viminal  and  Esquiline  Hills,  where  a  new  quarter  of  the 
city  is  being  laid  out,  have  disclosed  a  number  of  fragments 
of  sculptures  and  inscriptions,  a  detailed  account  of  which  has 
been  given  from  time  to  time  in  the  "  Bullet tino  della  Com- 
missione  Archeologica  Municipale,"  and  in  the  letters  of  Mr. 
Hemans  to  the  "Academy."  The  most  interesting  relics 
bearing  upon  topographical  questions  are  the  inscription 
relating  to  the  Macellum  Liviae  and  Forum  Esquiliuum  found 
near  the  Arch  of  Gallienus,  and  the  supposed  foundations  of 
the  Villa  of  Maecenas. 

Most  of  the  antiquarian  and  artistic  relics  lately  discovered 
here  have  been  deposited  in  the  Capitoline  Museum. 

Unfortunately  the  necessary  extension  of  the  buildings 
attached  to  the  railway  station  has  resulted  in  the  destruction 
of  a  large  portion  of  the  Servian  Agger.  Some  large  frag- 
ments of  the  huge  blocks  belonging  to  the  Servian  wall  may 
be  seen  at  the  back  of  the  station.  Traces  of  a  road  and  a 
gate  were  found  which  have  been  supposed  to  belong  to  the 
Via  and  Porta  Viminalis,  and  many  confused  heaps  of  ruins, 
the  relics  of  private  houses  built  up  against  the  side  of  the 
agger.  In  one  of  these  the  bricks  bore  the  date  of  the  third 
consulship  of  Servianus,  a.d.  134,  and  of  that  of  Niger  and 
Camerinus,  a.d.  138. 

A  Hermeracles  in  marble  was  found  near  the  station,  which 
is  figured  in  the  '*  Bullettino  della  Commissione  "  for  March 
1873,  and  numerous  mosaic  pavements,  one  of  which  is  laid 
on  the  floor  of  the  waiting-room  at  the  station. 

Auditorium. — One  of  the  buildings  attached  to  an  ancient 
house  in  this  neighbourhood  has  been  carefully  preserved  and 
walled  in  for  protection.  It  stands  near  the  ruin  called  the 
Trophies  of  Marius,  and  not  far  from  the  Arch  of  Gallienus, 
and  consists  of  a  semicircular  recess  with  ledges  rising  one 
above  another  in  the  form  of  a  miniature  theatre.  A  more 
correct  description  of  the  site  is  given  by  stating  that  it  stands 
where  the  former  gardens  of  the  convent  of  the  Redentoristi 
were  situated.  This  building  has,  on  account  of  its  resem- 
blance to  a  theatre,  and  of  its  position  on  a  spot  over  which 
the  famous  Gardens  of  Maecenas  probably  extended,  been 
called  the  Auditorium  of  Maecenas,  and  romantic  ideas  have 


Thk  Pouta  S.  Lorenzo  (Porta  Tibirti.na)  with  thk  spkcus  of  the  Marcian, 

Tepilan,  and  J I  LI  an  A<ilEnUCTS. 


THE  COLISEUM  AND   ESQUILIXE. 


97 


been  connected  with  it  as  having  been  the  actual  auditorium 
where  Virgil  and  Horace  may  have  recited  their  poetry  to 
their  great  patron.  This  view,  however,  has  been  shown  to 
be  untenable  by  Signor  Mau,  who  thinks  with  more  probability 
that  the  ruin  in  question  is  an  ornamental  recess  for  decorative 
works  of  art  and  flowers  or  a  fountain.  Such  recesses  may  be 
seen  in  some  of  the  houses  at  Pompeii.  The  paintings  on  the 
walls  are  of  a  style  similar  to  those  in  the  Villa  of  Livia  at 
Prima  Porta,  and  the  building  may  therefore  possibly  belong 
to  the  Augustan  age. 

Porta  S.  Lorenzo. — The  inscriptions  on  the  Porta  S. 
Lorenzo  at  the  eastern  side  of  the  Esquiline  Hill  tell  the 
history  of  the  several  gateways  here  built  by  Augustus  and 
other  emperors  down  to  Honorius.  The  aqueducts  run  along 
the  walls  from  this  gate  to  the  Porta  Maggiore. 

Porta  Maggiore  and  Tomb  of  Eurysaces. — The  Gate- 
way of  Honorius  was  removed  from  the  Porta  Maggiore  by 
Gregory  XVI.,  as  the  inscription  on  the  present  gate  records. 
The  removal  of  the  old  gateway  disclosed  the  Tomb  of  Eury- 
saces, a  bread  contractor,  which  is  a  very  fantastic  monu- 
ment, constructed  of  stone  mortars  used  for  kneading  dough, 
and  ornamented  with  some  curious  bas-reliefs  of  a  good 
period  of  art,  representing  the  operations  of  baking.  The 
inscriptions  upon  it  are  as  follows :  "  est  hoc  monimentum 

MARCEI  VERGILEI  EURYSACIS  PISTORIS  AC  REDEMPTORIS 
APPARETORUM.  FUIT  ATISTIA  UXOR  MIHEI  FEMINA  OPTIMA 
VEIXSIT    QUOJUS    CORPORIS    RELIQUIiE    QUOD    SUPERANT    SUNT 

IN  HOC  PANARio."  The  latter  of  these  inscriptions,  how- 
ever, probably  belongs  to  some  other  tomb,  the  remains 
of  several  having  been  found  here,  which  lead  to  the  sup- 
position that  this  was  a  spot  especially  devoted  to  the  burial 
of  bakers. 

The  present  gateway  is  formed  by  two  arches  of  the 
Claudian  Aqueduct,  which  runs  along  the  course  of  the  walls 
from  this  point  to  the  comer  near  the  Amphitheatrum  Cas- 
trense.  The  arches  are  built  of  rusticated  travertine  blocks, 
and  each  of  the  piers  is  pierced  with  a  smaller  arch,  decorated 
with  Corinthian  half -columns  of  rustic  work  and  pediments  in 
the  usual  Graeco-Roman  style  of  a  triumphal  arch.  This 
gateway  is  one  of  the  most  characteristic  creations  of  Roman 
architecture.  It  conveys,  more  than  any  other  building  I  know, 


THE  COLISEUM  AXD   ESQUILINE. 


99 


except,  perhaps,  the  rusticated  archways  of  the  amphitheatre 
at  Verona,  the  impression  of  rough  force  and  solidity.  Over 
the  arches  are  three  atticas,  upon  which  inscriptions  are  cut, 
recording  the  erection  and  renewal  of  the  Claudian  aqueduct 
by  Claudius,  Vespasian,  and  Titus. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    IMPERIAL    FOBA   AND    THE    CAPITOLIUM. 

Trajan's  Forum. — The  whole  space  between  the  Quirinal 
and  the  Capitoline  Hills  was  occupied  by  the  immense  Forum 
and  public  buildings  which  Trajan  constructed.  The  Column 
of  Trajan,  with  its  wonderful  spiral  reliefs,  still  marks  the 
site  of  this  great  mass  of  masonry  ;  but  the  remainder,  which 
included  a  basilica,  two  libraries,  a  temple,  and  two  extensive 
porticoes,  has  disappeared  with  the  exception  of  a  fragmen- 
tary ruin  in  the  Via  della  Salita  del  Grillo  under  the  Quirinal. 
Ruin  in  the  Salita  del  Grillo. — This  ruin  is  the  re- 
mains of  a  part  of  the  great  semicircular  side  of  Trajan's  . 
Forum  under  the  Quirinal  Hill.  It  consists  of  a  brick  build- 
ing of  two  stories  high,  containing  in  the  lower  story  small 
rooms  measuring  about  10  feet  square,  probably  shops  or 
offices  for  notaries  and  lawyers'  clerks.  The  interior  of  three 
of  the  rooms  is  covered  with  plaster,  and  painted  roughly. 
The  floors  were  covered  with  mosaic  pavement  of  a  common 
kind,  of  which  much  still  remains  in  situ.  Above  these  rooms 
runs  a  corridor  with  arched  windows,  at  the  back  of  which  a 
row  of  large  and  high  chambers  opens,  resting  upon  the 
natural  rock  of  the  Quirinal  Hill.  The  front  is  faced  with 
brick  pilasters  on  travertine  basements,  in  a  mixed  Doric 
and  Ionic  style,  and  there  were  formerly  pediments  over  the 
windows. 

It  will  be  seen  by  reference  to  the  plan  that  a  small  portion 
of  the  Forum  of  Trajan  can  be  now  seen  in  the  Piazza  della 
Colonna  Trajana.  The  arch  from  which  the  beautiful  bas- 
reliefs  on  Constantine's  Arch  were  robbed,  probably  stood  in 
the  Via  del  Priorato  at  some  distance  from  the  Piazza. 

The  two  double  rows  of  bases  now  to  be  seen  in  the  Piazza 


Shops  in  Trajan's  Forum. 


102 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


formed  a  part  of  the  great  Basilica  Ulpia,  part  of  the  ground- 
plan  of  which  is  still  preserved  on  two  fragments  of  the  Capi- 
toline  map.  Many  fragments  are  to  be  seen  here  of  the 
columns  which  supported  the  roof  of  the  basilica,  among 
which  those  of  grey  granite,  probably  belonging  to  the  outer 
rows  of  columns,  are  most  conspicuous. 

Column  of  Trajan.— The  great  Pillar  with  its  well- 
known  spiral  bas-reliefs,  perhaps  the  most  interesting  and  in- 
structive monument  of  antiquity  in  Kome  was  surrounded, 
when  the  buildings  round  it  were  complete,  with  a  narrow 
court  not  more  than  40  feet  square.     The  south  side  of  this 
was  formed  by  the  Basilica  Ulpia,  the  eastern  and  western  by 
the  libraries,  and  on  the  north  there  was  probably  an  oi^en 
colonnade,  the  line  of  which  can  be  traced  leading  to  the 
structures  beyond,  where  stood  the  temple  dedicated  to  Trajan. 
Thus  we  discover  a  fact  which  seems  at  first  somewhat  sur- 
pnsing,  that  the  pillar  could  not  be  viewed  in  its  full  height 
from  any  side,  and  that  the  upper  part  of  it  alone  was  visible 
from  the  Forum  over  the  roof  of  the  basilica.     That  it  was 
intentionally  thus  inclosed  is  evident,  for  had  the  Greek  archi- 
tect Apollodorusof  Damascus,  who  designed  the  Forum,  wished 
it  to  be  where  the  full  colossal  proportions  could  be  seen,  the 
open  space  of  the  Forum  was  close  at  hand,  in  the  centre  of 
which  it  might  have  been  placed.     But  it  is  not  unlikely  that 
the  sight  of  a  column  was  almost  inseparable  in  the  Greek 
architectural  ideas  from  an  entablature  and  pediment.     The 
Greeks  did  not  place  their  statues  on  the  top  of  columns,  and 
probably  had  this  reason  for  it,  that  a  single  column  cannot 
form  a  whole  by  itself,  and  wears  a  forsaken  and  deserted 
aspect  when  viewed  from  any  distance.     An  obehsk  conveys 
a  different  meaning,  and  the  use  of  a  single  column  cannot  be 
justified  by  it.     The  obelisk  tapers  upwards  and  completes 
itself,  but  a  column  instantly  brings  the  idea  of  support  with 
it.     Obelisks,  moreover,  were  never  used  singly  by  the  Egyp- 
tians, but  always  placed  in  pairs.     The  intention  of  the  archi- 
tect was  not  that  the  column  should  be  viewed  as  we  now 
view  it,  as  a  whole,  but  that  the  colossal   statue  of  the 
emperor  might  be  raised  on  high  above  his  splendid  group 
of  buildings,  and  also  that  the  bas-reliefs  should  be  con- 
veniently viewed  from  the  surrounding  galleries. 

The  height  of  the  column  is  124  feet  from  the  pavement  to 


The  Column  of  Trajan. 


104 


ANCIENT  ROME. 


n 


the  foot  of  the  statue.  It  stands  upon  a  pedestal  of  marble 
18  feet  high,  ornamented  on  three  sides  with  highly  interest- 
ing bas-reliefs  representing  trophies  of  Eoman  and  Dacian 
armour  of  various  kinds,  the  Roman  labarum  and  the  Dacian 
dragon,  coats  of  mail  made  of  scale  or  chain  armour,  helmets, 
curved  and  straight  swords,  axes,  clubs,  bows,  quivers,  arrows,' 
lances,  trumpets,  and  several  kinds  of  military  tools.  On  the 
fourth  side  two  genii  bear  the  tablet  on  which  is  the  inscrip- 

tlOn  :  "  SENATUS  POPULUSQUE  ROMANUS  IMP.  CAESARI  DIVI 
NERVAE  F.  NERVAE  TRAJANO  AUG.  GERM.  DACICO  PONTIF. 
MAXIMO  TRIE.  POT.  XII.  IMP.  VI.  PP.  AD  DECLARANDUM 
QUANTAE  ALTITUDINIS  M0N8  ET  LOCUS  TANTf  is  OperiluUS  SIT 
EOESTUS." 

The  last  words  of  this  inscription   are   illustrated   by   a 
passage   of  Dion   Cassius,  who  says   that   Trajan  placed  a 
colossal  pillar  in  his  Forum  to  be  his  own  tomb,  and  also 
to  show  the  amount  of  labour  expended  upon  the  Forum,  the 
slope  of  the  hill  which  previously  occupied  the  site  having 
been  dug  away  so  as  to  afford  a  level  space  for  the  Forum. 
There  is  no  need  to  interj^ret  this,  as  some  writers  have  done, 
to  mean  that  the  ground  on  the  spot  where  the  column  stands 
had  previously  been  as  high  as  the  top  of  the  column.     Such 
an  interpretation  seems  highly  improbable.     The  view  taken 
by  Becker  and  Brocchi  is  more  tenable,  that  the  words  allude 
to  the  cutting  away  of  the  Quirinal  Hill,  which  was  steep  and 
inaccessible  before  but  was  sloped  away  k)  a  point  on  the  side 
of  the   hill   as  high  as  the  top  of  th^  column.     Brocchi's 
geological  observations  have  made  it  almost  certain  that  the 
ground  has  not  been  cut  away  to  any  great  depth  between  the 
two  hills. 

The  top  of  the  column  is  only  six  feet  lower  than  the  level 
of  the  Villa  Aldobrandini  on  the  top  of  the  Quirinal,  and  two 
feet  higher  than  the  Piazza  di  Ara  Coeli.  If,  therefore,  at  any 
time  the  ground  on  the  site  of  Trajan's  Forum  was  as  high  as 
the  column,  it  must  have  formed  a  ridge  between  the  Capito- 
line  and  Quirinal  Hills,  higher  than  the  Capitoline  and  very 
nearly  as  high  as  the  Quirinal. 

In  the  base  of  the  column  the  ashes  of  Trajan  were 
deposited  in  a  golden  urn.  Sixtus  V.  had  the  chamber  in 
which  the  urn  was  placed  opened,  but  found  it  empty,  and  it 
has  now  been  walled  up. 


.cAII  i 


Pedestal  of  Trajan's  Column. 


&5*-.: 


106 


ANXIEXT   ROME. 


Above  the  pedestal  are  two  flat  stones  ornamented  with 
garlands  of  oak  leaves,  and  upon  them  rests  a  round  base 
carved  in  the  shape  of  a  laurel  wreath.  The  shaft  which 
stands  immediately  upon  this  is  composed  of  nineteen  cylin- 
drical blocks  of  marble,  on  the  outside  of  which  a  spiral  band 
of  beautifully  executed  bas-reliefs  winds  from  bottom  to  top, 
covering  the  whole  shaft.  The  capital  is  a  single  ring  of  egg- 
shaped  ornaments  with  arrowheads  between  them,  and  a 
simple  border  below.  On  a  pedestal  above  it  stood  originally 
the  colossal  bronze-gilt  statue  of  Trajan.  This  statue  and 
pedestal  were  probably  carried  off  during  the  robberies  com- 
mitted at  Rome  by  the  Byzantine  emperors,  a.d.  663. 
Sixtus  V.  replaced  it  by  a  modem  cylindrical  pedestal  and 
statue  of  S.  Peter.  The  ancient  winding  staircase  hewn  in 
the  solid  blocks  of  marble,  and  lighted  by  narrow  openings, 
still  leads  to  the  top.  From  thence  it  may  be  seen  how  diffi- 
cult it  is  to  suppose  that  the  ground  ever  rose  to  such  a 
height  between  the  Capitohne  and  Quirinal  as  has  been 
imagined  by  many  historians  and  topographers. 

Bas-reliefs.— The  magnificent  wreath  of  bas-reliefs  which 
winds  round  the  shaft  may  be  best  studied  by  means  of  the 
model  to  be  seen  in  the  French  Academy  on  the  Pincian  Hill, 
or  that  in  the  Kensington  Museum.  It  contains  the  history 
of  two  campaigns  against  the  Dacians,  and  has  been  in- 
geniously and  minutely  interpreted  by  several  writers.  A 
complete  account  of  this  marble  history  of  the  Dacian  wars, 
with  a  discussion  of  all  the  historical  and  antiquarian  points 
connected  with  it,  would  occupy  several  volumes,  and  we  must, 
therefore,  content  ourselves  with  noticing  the  general  character 
of  the  work  and  some  few  of  the  more  interesting  portions. 

Trajan's  First  Campaign  in  Dacia.  Two  campaigns 
are  represented.  The  first  of  these  took  place  in  the  year 
101,  and  during  it  Trajan's  army  passed  down  the  river  Save 
and  crossed  the  Danube  in  two  divisions  at  Kastolatz  and  at 
the  confluence  of  the  Tjema.  The  two  divisions  effected 
a  junction  at  the  pass  of  the  Bistra,  called  the  Iron  Gate, 
which  they  forced,  and  then  attacked  and  took  the  royal  city 
Zermizegethusa.  Trajan  was  not  satisfied  with  this  success, 
but  pushed  on  into  the  heart  of  the  enemy's  country,  and 
gained  a  great  victory  at  Tapse,  after  which  Decebalus,  the 
Dacian  king,  sued  for  peace. 


THE   IMPERIAL   FORA  AND   THE   CAPITOLIUM.  107 

The  bas-relief  begins  at  the  base  by  a  representation  of  the 
banks  of  the  Save,  down  which  the  Roman  army  passed,  and 
shows  military  storehouses,  piles  of  wood,  stacks  of  hay,  and 
wooden  huts.  Then  follow  forts  with  soldiers  on  guard,  and 
boats  carrying  barrels  of  provisions. 

The  river  god  Danube  then  appears  and  looks  on  with 
astonishment  at  the  bridge  of  boats  over  which  the  Roman 
army  is  passing.  The  baggage  of  the  soldiers  on  the  march, 
tied  to  the  top  of  the  vallum  or  palisade  which  they  carry, 
and  the  different  military  standards,  are  very  distinctly 
shown.  Many  of  the  men  are  without  covering  on  their 
heads,  but  some  wear  lions'  skins.  The  emperor  and  his 
staff  are  then  introduced.  He  is  sitting  upon  a  suggestus  or 
platform,  and  Lucius,  the  Praetorian  prefect,  sits  behind  him. 
The  suovetaurilia,  a  grand  sacrificial  celebration,  is  the  next 
scene,  with  priests  in  the  Cinctus  Gabinus  and  trumpeters. 
After  this  the  emperor  is  seen  making  a  speech  to  the  army, 
and  a  little  farther  on  the  building  of  a  stone  encampment  in- 
closing huts  is  being  carried  on  with  great  vigour,  and 
bridges  are  being  thrown  across  a  river,  over  which  cavalry 
are  passing. 

A  battle  seems  then  to  take  place,  and  the  heads  of  two 
enemies  are  being  brought  to  the  emperor.  The  Dacian 
army  with  the  dragon  ensign  and  the  Dacian  cap,  the 
symbol  of  superior  rank,  seen  upon  the  statues  of  the  Dacian 
prisoners  on  the  Arch  of  Constantine,  appears.  Jupiter  gives 
the  victory  to  the  Romans,  the  Dacian  camp  is  burnt,  and  the 
Dacians  fly. 

Numerous  representations  of  forts,  boats,  different  kinds  of 
troops,  skirmishes,  and  sieges  follow,  ending  with  the  sur- 
render of  Decebalus  and  the  return  of  Trajan  to  Rome,  where 
a  great  festival  is  celebrated.  The  arrival  at  Rome,  and  the 
crowd  of  Romans  going  to  meet  the  great  conqueror,  are  very 
very  vividly  drawn.  An  immense  number  of  bulls  for  sacri- 
fice, altars,  camilli,  and  half -naked  popae  are  introduced  into 
the  triumphal  rejoicings,  and  the  first  campaign  ends  with  the 
figure  of  Trajan  offering  incense  on  the  altar  of  Jupiter  Capi- 
tolinus. 

Trajan's  Second  Campaign  in  Dacia. — A  somewhat 
similar  series  of  scenes  are  represented  in  the  sculptures 
which  depict  thjB  second  campaign.     Perhaps  the   most  in- 


4';,- 


108 


ANCIENT  ROME. 


teresting  is  that  of  the  great  bridge  over  the  Danube,  made 
of  wood  supported  on  stone  piers,  the  foundations  of  which 
may  still  be  seen  in  the  bed  of  the  river.  ApoUodorus,  the 
architect  of  the  Forum,  designed  this  immense  work,  which 
crossed  the  Danube  at  a  spot  where  it  is  not  less  than  1,300 
yards  wide,  near  the  village  of  Gieli.  A  permanent  road 
into  Dacia  and  secure  communications  with  his  basis  of 
operations  having  thus  been  secured,  Trajan  gradually 
advanced  from  post  to  post,  driving  the  Dacians  into  the 
mountainous  parts  of  the  country.  The  sculptures  represent 
a  number  of  skirmishes  and  assaults  upon  fortified  places, 
but  no  regular  pitched  battle.  At  last  the  ghastly  spectacle 
of  the  head  and  hands  of  Decebalus  is  exhibited  on  a  board 
by  two  soldiers  in  front  of  the  Praetorium.  This  disgustiug 
scene  is  followed  by  a  representation  of  the  storming  of  the 
last  strongholds  of  the  enemy  in  the  mountains,  and  a 
mournful  procession  of  fugitives  carrying  away  their  goods 
and  driving  their  cattle  into  exile  forms  the  close  of  the 
sculptured  history  of  the  Dacian  campaigns  of  Trajan.^ 

In  these  curious  bas-reliefs  we  have  a  treasury  of  informa- 
tion on  the  religion,  the  military  science,  the  habits  and  dress 
of  the  Romans  of  the  Empire  far  more  valuable  than  ten 
thousand  pages  of  descriptive  writing.  The  lover  of  Roman 
antiquities  will  learn  more  by  studying  Fabretti's  engravings 
of  these  reliefs,  or  the  casts  at  the  French  Academy  at 
Rome,  and  at  the  Kensington  Museum  than  by  much  book- 
labour.  The  descriptions  of  Livy  and  Polybius,  Caesar  and 
Tacitus,  receive  life,  and  movement,  and  interest  as  we 
look  at  the  actual  figures  (oculis  subjecta  fidelibus)  of  the 
general  and  his  staff ;  the  Praetorian  guards  marked  by 
their  belts  over  the  left  shoulder  ;  the  fierce-looking  standard- 
bearers  and  centurions  with  their  heads  covered  by  lions* 
skins,  the  shaggy  manes  of  which  stream  down  their  backs ; 
the  rank  and  file  carrying  enormous  stakes ;  the  master 
masons,  sappers,  and  pioneers,  with  their  axes  and  crowbars ; 
the  lancers,  heavy  and  light  cavalry,  and  royal  chargers;  the  Sar- 
matian  horsemen,  clothed,  both  riders  and  steeds,  in  complete 
scale  armour,  and  the  Moorish  cavalry,  riding  without  reins. 

Bridges    are    constructed,   Roman    causeways    laid,   forts 

*  See  Dion  Cassius,  Ixviii.  9-13. 


THE   IMPERIAL   FORA   AND   THE   CAPITOLIUM. 


109 


attacked  with  all  kinds  of  military  engines ;  the  charge  of 
cavalry,  the  rout  and  confusion  of  a  defeated  army,  are  all 
most  vividly  depicted.  Trajan  in  person  traverses  the  ranks 
on  foot,  or  mounts  the  suggestus  and  harangues  his  men,  or 
receives  with  simple  dignity  the  submission  of  the  enemy, 
or  marches  with  all  the  pomp  of  a  Roman  procession  under 
the  triumphal  arch.  The  soldierlike  simplicity  of  the  great 
military  emperor  is  strikingly  portrayed.  There  is  no  silken 
tent,  or  richly  decorated  chariot,  or  throne,  or  canopy  of  state 
to  be  seen.  His  colonel  of  the  guards  sits  beside  him,  as  an 
equal,  on  the  suggestus.  In  the  midst  of  a  battle  the  emperor 
tears  up  his  robe  to  bind  the  wounds  of  his  soldiers  ;  he  is 
present  everywhere,  wearing  a  sword  and  fighting  in  person. 
Nothing  could  be  more  illustrative  of  the  state  of  Roman 
affairs  in  that  iron  age  when  again,  as  in  the  olden  times,  a 
rough  and  unlettered  warrior,  fresh  from  the  camp,  swayed 
the  destinies  of  the  empire. 

In  this  vast  spiral  relief  there  are  said  to  be  above  2,500 
figures  of  men  sculptured,  and  the  higher  they  are  placed  on 
the  column  the  larger,  it  is  said,  are  their  dimensions.  The 
whole  of  the  carving  from  base  to  summit  is  executed  with 
equally  minute  care,  though  the  upper  part  can  never  have 
been  easily  visible,  except  from  the  windows  or  roofs  of  the 
basilica  and  the  libraries  which,  as  we  have  seen,  were  placed 
very  near.  The  opinion  which  prevailed  for  some  time,  that 
the  figures  had  been  coloured,  is  doubtful,  as  the  more  minute 
examination  since  made  has  proved  that  the  colours  imagined 
to  be  artificial  are  the  natural  results  of  the  decay  of  the 
stone  and  oxidization  of  the  metallic  parts  of  the  structure, 
under  the  effects  of  the  rain,  sun,  and  dust. 

A  vast  number  of  fragments  of  columns,  of  inscriptions,  and 
of  architectural  ornaments  have  been  dug  up  at  various  times 
on  the  site  of  Trajan's  Forum.  The  great  granite  columns 
which  now  lie  near  the  base  of  the  pillar  were  found  in  laying 
the  foundations  of  the  Church  of  S.  Maria  in  Loreto,  by  the 
architect,  the  elder  San  Gallo,  and  are  mentioned  as  lying 
near  that  church  in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The 
equestrian  statue  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  in  the  Piazza  del  Cam- 
pidoglio,  stands  upon  a  pedestal  made  by  Michael  Angelo  out 
of  an  immense  fragment  of  entablature  found  on  the  site  of 
Trajan's  Forum. ' 


^?. 


110 


ANCIENT  ROME. 


An  inscnption,  which  is  now  built  into  the  wall  on  the 
north  of  the  pillar,  commemorates  the  remission  of  all  debts 
to  the  emperor's  private  purse  (fiscus)  by  Hadrian,  a  fact 
which  we  find  also  mentioned  in  Dion  Cassius  and  Spartianus. 
The  latter  writer  adds  that  it  was  in  the  Forum  of  T^ian 
that  Hadrian  publicly  burnt  the  list  of  his  debtors,  and  the 
inscnption  was  no  doubt  intended  to  mark  the  spot  of  this 
act  of  hberahty  or  bribery. 

Forum  Julium.--The  ruins  of  two  portions  only  of  the 
Forum  Julium  which  adjoined  that  of  Trajan,  have  been  dis- 
covered in  modern  times.  The  first  is  a  considerable  part  of 
the  outer  wall  of  the  Forum,  standing  in  the  court  of  the 
house  No.  18  in  the  Via  del  Ghetarello,  a  small  street  which 
opens  out  of  the  Via  di  Marforio,  near  the  Career  and  the 
Church  of  SS.  Martina  e  Luca.  This  ruined  wall  consists  of 
three  arches  composed  of  large  blocks  of  peperino  and  traver- 
tine skilfully  cut  and  joined  without  mortar  and  under-built 
by  another  arch  as  if  in  order  to  enable  the  wall  to  bear  a 
great  weight  The  length  of  the  fragment  of  wall  is  about 
DU  teet  and  the  highest  point  about  30  feet. 

The  other  relic  of  Caesar's  Forum  is  now  no  longer  visible 
We  obtain  our  information  about  it  from  Palladio,  the  archi- 
tect about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  who  relates 
that  while  he  was  at  Rome  the  ground-pJan  of  a  temple  was 
uncovered  mdiggmg  the  foundations  of  a  house  between  the 
Sahta  di  Marfono  and  the  temple  of  Mars  Ultor,  a  descrip. 
tion  which  points  plainly  to  the  block  of  houses  behind  SS 
Martina  e  Luca.  There  was  a  peculiarity  in  the  inter- 
colummations  of  this  temple,  which  Palladio  particularly 
remarked.  The  distance  between  the  columns,  he  says,  was 
the  eleventh  part  of  the  diameter  of  a  column  less  than  a 
diameter  and  a  half. 

Forum  of  Augustus.  Temple  of  Mars  Ultor  —The 
almost  universal  opinion  of  Roman  topographers  now  is  that 
the  three  Corinthian  columns  on  the  left-hand  side  of  the 
Via  Bonella  and  the  massive  arch  which  leads  from  it  into  the 
Via  di  Tor  di  Conti  are  the  remains  of  the  Temple  of  Mars 
Ultor,  which  Augustus  built  in  his  Forum,  and  of  the  north- 
eastern  portion  of  the  inclosing  wall. 


Temple  of  Mars  Ultor.  and  interior  view  of  one  of  the  entrances  of 
THE  Forum  Augusti  (Arco  dei  Pantani). 


112 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


This  opinion  was  already  held  by  Palladio  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  but  the  Italian  antiquaries  since  his  time  have 
adopted  the  most  various  hypotheses  on  the  subject.  There 
is,  it  is  true,  no  actual  proof  that  this  was  the  temple  of  Mars 
Ultor,  but  there  is  strong  presumptive  evidence  that  it  was 
BO.  The  "  Catalogue  of  the  Curiosum  "  places  it  next  to  the 
Forum  Julium  in  the  eighth  region.  Now  the  eighth  region 
was  bounded  on  the  east,  in  this  neighbourhood,  by  the 
Quirinal  Hill  and  the  Via  del  Sole,  or  a  street  a  little  to  the 
east  of  it,  and  we  are  tolerably  sure  that  the  forum  transito- 
rium  filled  up  a  great  part  of  the  space  between  the  temple  in 
question  and  the  above-mentioned  street,  and  that  the  Forum 
Julium  intervened  between  it  and  the  Forum  Romanum, 
while  the  Forum  Trajani  limits  the  space  to  the  westward 
within  which  we  can  suppose  the  Forum  Augusti  to  have 
been.  Thus  the  only  space  left  in  the  eighth  region  within 
which  the  Forum  of  Augustus  can  be  supposed  to  have  been 
contained,  is  that  bounded  by  the  Via  della  Croce  Bianca,  the 
Via  del  Priorato,  and  the  Via  di  Tor  di  Conti. 

The  ruins  of  the  temple  consist  of  three  lofty  fluted 
Corinthian  columns,  a  pilaster  of  white  Carrara  marble,  a 
part  of  the  surmoimting  architrave,  and  the  corresponding 
wall  of  the  cella  of  the  temple.  Antiquarians  are  of  opinion 
that  the  purity  of  style  and  elegance  of  these  columns,  and 
their  ornamentation,  forms  a  strong  proof  that  they  were 
designed  and  executed  in  the  best  times  of  Roman  architec- 
tural art,  and  cannot  belong  to  a  period  later  than  that  of 
Augustus.  The  richest  decorative  work  is  to  be  seen  under 
the  roof  of  the  portico,  between  the  columns  and  the  wall  of 
the  cella. 

Exterior  "Wall.  Arco  dei  Pantani. — These  three 
columns  stood  at  the  side  of  the  temple  which  abutted  on  the 
exterior  wall  of  the  Forum,  as  the  ruins  show.  A  large 
portion  of  this  wall  is  still  standing  on  each  side  of  the  arch 
called  the  Arco  dei  Pantani.  The  arch  itself  is  built  of 
travertine,  the  wall  of  blocks  of  peperino  laid  alternately  with 
the  longer  and  shorter  sides  outwards  as  in  the  masonry  of 
the  tabularium.  In  the  middle  ages  a  door  was  fitted  on  to 
this  archway,  and  a  portion  of  the  stone  was  cut  away  on  the 
west  side.  This  has  injured  its  architectural  beauty  very 
much.      It  has  also  been  stripped  of  the  marble  facing  with 


£xTER>'AL  Wall  of  the  Forum  Augusti  (Arco  dei  Pantani). 


114 


ANCIENT  ROME. 


which  it  was  probably  covered  originally,  and  being  now  half 
buried  in  the  rubbish  of  ages,  it  presents  a  somewhat  mean 
and  rough  appearance. 

This  archwav  formed  one  of  the  entrances  to  the  Forum 
Augusti  from  the  east.  The  wall  of  the  inclosure  can  be 
traced  for  a  considerable  distance  on  each  side  of  it,  but  there 
are  no  other  archways  now  open.  The  monotonous  appearance 
of  so  high  a  wall  is  relieved  by  having  the  edges  of  the  stones 
cut  so  that  each  block  stands  out  separately,  and  the  lower 
part  of  the  wall  is  divided  into  two,  and  its  upper  into  three 
stages  by  projecting  ruins  of  travertine. 

It  is  said  that  the  blocks  of  stone  in  this  masonry  are 
fastened  with  wooden  bolts  made  in  the  shape  of  double 
swallow  tails,  and  that  some  of  these  have  been  found  com- 
pletely petrified. 

When  the  Forum  was  first  designed  Augustus  encountered 
great  opposition  from  owners  of  private  house  property ; 
and  through  fear  of  the  unpopularity  which  wholesale 
evictions  might  have  caused,  he  accommodated  the  shape 
of  the  external  walls  to  that  of  the  ground  he  could  occupy. 
Hence  arose  the  irregular  line  of  the  exterior,  which  was, 
however,  reduced  to  a  symmetrical  plan  inside  by  secondary 
walls.  The  general  shape  of  the  interior  area  of  the  inclosure 
was  that  of  a  broad  oblong  piazza  with  two  large  semicircular 
side  extensions  or  wings  (somewhat  like  those  in  the  Piazza 
S.  Pietro)  opposite  to  and  corresponding  with  each  other.  The 
area  was  large,  for  the  horse  races,  and  games  in  honour  of 
Mars  were  held  here  once  when  the  Tiber  had  overflowed  the 
circus.^  The  temple  stood  at  the  northern  end  between  these 
two  side  extensions,  and  occuj)ied  about  one- sixth  of  the  whole 
space.  Tribunals  were  placed  in  the  hemicycles  and  courts  of 
law  held  there.  Some  portions  of  the  semicircular  recesses 
are  still  extant  by  which  their  plan  may  be  traced,  but  the 
outer  wall  is  in  no  part  preserved  entire  except  at  the  back 
and  sides  of  the  temple.  Its  height  at  the  back  of  the  temple 
is  120  feet,  and  near  the  Arco  dei  Pantani  100  feet,  which  we 
must  suppose  to  have  been  the  normal  height  of  the  rest  of  the 
inclosure.  These  enormous  walls  served  as  a  defence  against 
fire,  no  less  than  to  exclude  the  traffic  and  noise  of  the  streets. 

Although  it  is  possible  that  Augustus  may  have  entertained 

^  Dion  Cass.  Ivi.  27. 


'/ 


THE   IMPERIAL   FORA  AND   THE  CAPITOLIUM. 


115 


the  design  of  erecting  a  new  group  of  public  buildings  as  a 
means  of  gaining  distinction  and  popularity  before  the  battle 
of  Philippi  which  established  his  power,  yet  so  far  as  we 
know,  the  temple  of  Mars  Ultor  and  the  Forum  Augusti  owed 
their  existence  to  a  vow  made  by  the  emperor  immediately 
before  the  decisive  battle  of  Philippi,  b.c.  42,  to  build  if 
victorious  a  temple  to  Mars  as  the  avenger  of  his  adopted 
father.  The  dedication  of  the  temple  took  place  in  b.c.  2, 
accompanied  with  most  magnificent  shows  of  gladiators  and 
splendid  sham  sea-fights. 

Forum  of  Nerva.  The  Colonnacce. — The  Forum  of 
Nerva  was  in  the  district  through  which  the  Via  della  Croce 
Bianca  passes,  and  was  connected  with  the  ruin  commonly 
called  the  Temple  of  Minerva,  still  standing  on  the  right- 
hand  side  of  that  street  where  it  is  crossed  by  the  Via 
Alessandrina. 

Two  columns  are  there  to  be  seen  now  called  the  Colon- 
nacce, half  buried  in  the  earth,  surmounted  by  an  entab- 
lature and  an  attica.  The  wall  behind  the  columns  is  built 
of  blocks  of  peperino  of  unequal  size,  and  is  in  a  style 
of  masonry  inferior  to  the  walls  of  the  Forum  of  Augustus. 
In  it  may  be  seen  the  traces  of  an  arch  which  has  l^een 
filled  up  with  the  same  stone  as  that  of  which  the  wall  is 
built.  The  columns,  which  are  of  fluted  marble,  stand  out  in 
front  of  the  wall ;  but,  as  in  the  Arch  of  Severus,  the  entabla- 
ture does  not  lie  between  them,  but  projects  from  the  wall 
over  the  capitals,  and  unites  them  with  the  wall.  The  edges 
of  the  architrave  are  richly  decorated,  and  the  frieze  contains 
an  elaborately  carved  bas-relief,  which,  though  unfortunately 
much  disfigured,  can  be  partially  understood  by  the  help  of 
old  engravings  taken  before  it  was  reduced  to  its  present 
lamentable  state. 

From  these  it  apx)ears  that  the  figures  represent  various 
attributes  of  Minerva  as  the  patroness  of  household  manage- 
ment. Some  of  them  are  drawing  water,  others  weaving  or 
spinning,  and  others  dyeing,  washing,  holding  scales  and 
purses  as  if  bargaining.  The  remaining  portion  of  the  design 
is  incomplete,  and  was  probably  carried  round  the  rest  of  the 
frieze  of  the  inclosure.^     On  the  cornices,  both  upper  and 

'  The  frieze  is  described  and  representations  of  it  are  given  in  the 
Annali  and  Monumenti  dell'  Inst.  1877. 


i 


III 


THE   IMPERIAL   FORA   AND   THE   CAPITOLIUM. 


117 


lower,  the  omamentatioii  is  very  rich,  but  not  so  chaste  as 
work  of  the  Augustan  period.  In  the  centre  of  the  attica 
stands  a  figure  of  Minerva  in  alto-relievo,  with  spear,  helmet, 

and  shield. 

That  this  beautiful  ruin,  which  is  one  of  the  most  picturesque 
in  Rome,  belonged  to  the  wall  of  Nerva's  Forum  is  rendered 
certain  by  the  old  views  of  the  sixteenth  century,  which  repre- 
sent it  as*  part  of  the  inner  side  of  the  wall  inclosing  a  splendid 
temple  which  stood  to  the  north-west  of  it.  Seven  of  the 
columns  of  this  temple  were  still  standing  in  the  fifteenth 
century,  belonging  to  the  left-hand  side  of  the  portico,  and  a 
considerable  part  also  of  the  walls  of  the  cella  with  the 
pilasters  of  the  portico.  The  cella  of  the  temple  adjoined  the 
semicircular  part  of  Augustus's  Forum  on  one  side,  and,  as  will 
be  seen  by  the  plan,  the  wall  of  the  inclosure  met  it  on  the 
other,  so  that  only  the  portico  of  the  temple  projected  into  the 
open  space  of  the  Forum. 

On  tlie  front  were  the  words,  probably  the  last  line  of  a 
longer  inscription,  "  imp.  nerva  c^sar  aug.  font,  maxim. 
TRIE.  POT.  II.  IMP.  II.  PROCOS,"  showiug  that  the  temple  was 
dedicated  by  Nerva. 

There  can  be  but  little  doubt  that  this  was  the  temple  of 
Minerva  begun  together  with  the  Forum  by  Domitian,  and 
finished  by  Nerva.  It  is  true  that  there  is  no  actual  notice 
in  any  of  the  ancient  writers  of  a  temple  of  Minerva  here,  but 
the  assertion  of  Dion  Cassius  that  Domitian  had  a  particular 
reverence  for  Minerva  and  Janus,  and  the  character  of  the 
designs  and  statues  of  Minerva  found  upon  the  ruined  part  of 
the  inclosure  alreadv  described,  leave  little  doubt  on  the  sub- 
ject. The  name  of  Palladium  given  to  the  Forum  by  Martial 
also  agrees  with  this  supposition. 

The  fate  of  the  Temple  of  Minerva  is  better  known  than 
that  of  most  of  the  ancient  temples  m  Rome. 

In  the  time  of  Pope  Pius  V.  (1566-1572)  the  building  of  a 
new  quarter  of  the  city  was  begun  in  this  district.  The  streets 
Via  Alessandrina  and  Via  Bonella  were  laid  out,  and  as  the 
new  quarter  grew,  the  ruins  of  the  old  temple  became  an 
impediment  to  their  progress,  which  Paul  V.  in  the  beginning 
of  the  seventeenth  century  ordered  to  be  removed,  and  to  be 
applied  to  the  construction  of  the  Chapel  of  S.  Paul  in  the 
church  of  S.  Maria  Ma<?2:iore  and  that  of  the  Fontana  Paolo 


i! 


THE   IMPERIAL   FORA   AXD  THE   CAPITOLIUM.  119 

upon  the  Janiculum.  The  great  gateway  which  stood  at  the 
eud  of  the  Via  della  Croce  Bianca  was  suffered  to  remain  for 
a  centurv  longrer,  but  is  now  quite  gone. 

Tomb  of  Bibulus. — We  now  return  to  the  Piazza  Trajana. 
Between  it  and  the  Piazza  del  Campidoglio,  in  a  street  called 
the  Via  di  Marforio,  are  two  of  the  more  ancient  ruins  in 
Rome  consisting  of  tombs  now  built  into  the  walls  of  houses. 
These  tombs  are  monuments  of  imperial  Rome,  and  were  pro- 
bably outside   the   ancient  Servian  Wall  not  far  from  the 

Porta  Ratumena.  n  x*.,    i 

The  more  prominent  of  the  two,  the  Tomb  of  Bibulus, 
stands  close  by  the  junction  of  the  modern  streets  of  Macel 
de'  Corvi  and  Marforio.  The  front  of  it  only  can  be  seen,  as 
the  rest  is  built  into  the  wall  of  a  house.  The  inscription  is 
as  follows : 

C  .  POPLICIO  .  L  .  F  .  BIBULO  .  AED  .  PL  .  HONORIS  . 

VIRTUTISQUE  .  CAUSSA  .  SENATUS. 

CONSULTO .  POPULI  .  QUE  .  JUSSU  .  LOCUS . 

MONUMENTO  .  QUO  .  IPSE  .  POSTEREIQUE  . 

EIUS  .  INFERRENTUR  .  PUBLICE  .  DATUS  .  EST. 

The  inscription  was  also  placed  on  the  side  of  the  tomb, 
where  the  beginning  of  it  may  still  be  seen.  It  must  not  be 
inferred  that  the  privilege  of  being  buried  within  the  walls 
was  granted  to  Bibulus  contrary  to  the  regulations  of  the 
twelve  tables,  which  forbade  any  corpse  to  be  buried  or  burnt 
within  the  city  walls.  Had  this  been  the  case  the  exemption 
would  have  been  expressly  mentioned  in  the  inscription. 
Besides  this  the  course  of  the  Servian  Wall,  which  crossed  the 
depression  between  the  Quirinal  and  Capitoline,  would  natu- 
rally run  so  as  to  exclude  the  tomb.  The  inscription  only 
records  the  gift  of  the  burial-place  to  Bibulus  by  the  Senate, 
and  is  intended  to  prevent  the  burial  of  any  other  person 
there,  except  the  family  of  Bibulus. 

An  ^Edile  of  the  name  C.  Bibulus  is  mentioned  m  the 
"  Annals  "  of  Tacitus  in  the  reign  of  Tiberius,  a.d.  22,  and 
the  style  of  the  tomb  agrees  tolerably  well  with  this  date. 
The  whole  is  built  of  travertine,  and  the  basement  is  of  the 
simplest  description  possible.  Four  Doric  pilasters  with 
Attic  bases  surmounted  by  an  Ionic  entablature,  ornamented 
with  wreaths  of  fruit  and  ox-skulls,  form  the  whole  decora- 


Ni 


1 


M 


120 


ANCIDNT   ROME. 


tion  of  the  front.  Bergai;.,  however,  thinks  that  the  archi- 
tecture is  Italian,  and  shoud  not  be  called  by  these  Greek 
names/ 

The  other  ruin  of  a  tomb  is  in  the  wall  of  a  house  nearly 
opposite  to  that  of  Bibulus,  and  is  reduced  to  a  shapeless 
mass  of  remains. 

Capitolium.  Temple  of  Jupiter.— Passing  from  the 
Tomb  of  Bibulus  to  the  Piazza  del  Campidoglio,  and  thence 
to  the  Caffarelli  or  southern  end  of  the  Capitoline  Hill,  we 
find  in  the  gardens  of  the  German  Embassy  an  excavation 
which  shows  a  number  of  tufa  blocks  fitted  together  without 
mortar,  and  in  an  irregular  manner.^ 

The  area  of  the  great  temple  of  Jupiter  Capitolinus  and  the 
wall  surrounding  it  have  been  traced  out  by  Lanciani  and 
Jordan  among  the  fragments  which  are  found  in  this  garden, 
and  on  the  north  side  of  the  Caffarelli  palace,  and  between  the 
garden  and  the  rotunda  of  the  museum.  Jordan  thinks  that 
the  measurements  of  the  area  indicated  by  these  fragments 
correspond  to  the  size  of  the  environs  of  the  temple  as  given 
by  Dionysius,  and  that  they  afford  a  conclusive  proof  that  the 
great  temple  of  Jupiter  was  on  the  Caft'arelli  and  not  on  the 
Ara  Coeli  height.  The  north-eastern  corner  of  the  excavation 
in  the  Caffarelli  garden  shows  a  part  of  these  constructions, 
and  a  fragment  may  be  seen  in  the  wall  of  the  Moutanara 
Garden  in  the  Vicolo  di  Monte  Caprino. 

The  temple  was  placed  upon  an  elevated  platform  800  feet 
in  circumference,  and  was  nearly  as  broad  as  it  was  long. 
The  great  breadth  was  caused  by  the  admission  of  the 
goddesses  Juno  and  Minerva  to  share  the  temple  with  Jupiter : 
in  order  to  accommodate  the  trio,  three  cellae  were  built  side 
by  side. 

The  original  temple  founded  by  Tarquinius  Priscus  stood 
for  425  years.  It  was  consumed  by  fire  a.u.c.  670,  and 
rebuilt  by  Sylla  and  Q.  Lutatius  Catulus.  It  was  again  burnt 
in  A.D.  70,  and  rebuilt  by  Vespasian,  and  being  a  third  time 
destroyed  by  fire,  it  was  restored  by  Domitian  with  great 
magnificence.  It  was  gradually  despoiled  of  its  treasures  and 
bronze  ornaments  in  the  Middle  Ages,  and  at  length  disap- 
peared stone  by  stone,  though  its  last  vestiges  appear  to  have 

^  See  ♦'  Rome  and  the  Caiupa«,'iia,"  p.  xlii. 

*  See  the  Annali  and  Monunienti  of  the  Inst,  di  Corr.  arch.  1876. 


w 


fi 


m\ 


Pi 
O 

< 
a 

H 
O 

a 
z 

H 
H 

03 

CO 
< 

a 
z 

O 


a 


nil 


122 


AXCIEXT   ROME. 


THE   IMPERIAL  FORA  AND   THE  CAPITOLIUM. 


123 


lingered  in  the  church  of  S.  Salvatore  in  Maximis,  which  was 
demolished  in  1587. 

The  order  of  its  later  forms  appears  to  have  been  Corinthian, 
and  it  is  represented  on  coins  as  hexastyle. 

The  natural  features  of  the  Capitoline  Hill  could  hardly 
have  been  more  completely  concealed  than  they  are  by  the 
present  situation  of  the  buildings  upon  it,  even  if  those 
buildings   had  been  erected   with  the  express    purpose  of 


-f^e/ 


*  l-'^fJK'C^r; 


--.4 »^ 


.H' 


Temple  of  Jupiter  Capitolims  on  a  first  Brass  of  Vespasian. 

changing  the  appearance  of  the  hill.  For  the  convent  of  Ara 
Cceli  and  the  Palazzo  CafFarelli,  which  occupy  respectively  the 
north-eastern  and  south-western  summits  of  the  hill,  are  com- 
paratively low  and  unconspicuous,  while  the  so-called  Tabu- 
larium  and  above  it  the  Palace  of  the  Senator  compose  a  lofty 
pile  which  nearly  fills  up  the  depression  between  these  two 
heights.  To  the  spectator  looking  at  the  Capitol  from  the 
Forum,  the  higher  part  of  the  hill  appears  to  lie  nearly  in  the 
centre,  whereas  in  reality  the  shape  is  that  of  a  double  hill 
rising  at  each   end.      The  north-eastern   end  is  somewhat 


. 


curved  round  towards  the  north,  while  the  south-western 
approaches  within  300  paces  of  the  river.  The  whole  core  of 
the  hill  is  formed  of  the  harder  volcanic  tufa,  a  section  of 
which  may  be  plainly  seen,  composing  the  face  of  the  low 
precipice  now  shown  as  the  Tarjjeian  rock,  and  also  in  a  court- 
vard  surrounded  by  cottages,  near  the  spot  called  Palazzaccio. 
This  tufa  was,  as  has  been  frequently  mentioned,  used  as  a 
building  stone  in  the  early  ages  of  Eome  before  the  lapis 
Gabinus,  or  Albanus  (peperino)  or  the  lapis  Tiburtinus  had 
been  introduced. 

Tarpeian  Rock. — The  Tarpeian  Rock  whence  criminals 
were  hurled,  was,  according  to  the  older  Italian  topographers 
down  to  the  time  of  Nardini,  placed  at  the  western  edge  of 
the  hill  towards  the  Tiber,  where  the  Piazza  Montanara  now 
is.  But  Dureau  de  la  Malle  in  the  "  Mcmoires  de  1' Academic  " 
for  1809,  pointed  out  that  this  was  inconsistent  with  the  state- 
ments of  Dionysius,  who  says  that  it  was  over  the  Forum, 
and  that  the  executions  took  place  in  full  view  of  all  the 
people.  This  would  seem  to  place  it  on  the  S.E.  side  towards 
the  Palatine  near  S.  Maria  della  Consolazione.  Becker's 
objection  that  the  hill  is  less  steep  there  than  at  the  western 
edge,  may  be  met  by  the  fact  that  several  large  masses  of 
rock  are  recorded  to  have  fallen  down  from  this  spot,  and 
therefore  the  face  of  the  cliff  is  entirely  changed.  The 
further  objection  that  the  criminals  would  have  fallen  into 
the  Vicus  Jugarius,  instead  of  which  they  ought,  according 
to  custom,  to  have  been  cast  over  the  city  walls,  seems  to  rest 
on  the  assumption  that  criminals  were  always  thrown  over 
the  walls,  no  proof  of  which  has  been  adduced.  Tradition  is 
equally  divided  between  the  two  localities,  and  therefore  the 
passages  of  Dionysius  above  quoted  must  be  held  at  present 
decisive  in  favour  of  the  side  towards  the  Palatine  and 
Forum. 

Thermae  of  Constantine. — It  has  been  conclusively 
proved  by  Becker,  that  Aurelian's  Temple  of  the  Sun  which 
which  was  commonly  supposed  to  have  occupied  the  Colonna 
Gardens,  and  to  which  the  huge  fragments  near  the  Capitol 
which  lie  there  were  thought  to  have  belonged,  was  not  here 
but  in  the  Campus  Agrippae  on  the  Campus  Martins. 

The  fragments  of  stonework  are  now  thought  to  have 
belonged  to  the  entrance  of  the  Thermae  of  Constantine. 


li 


i 


124 


ANCIENT  ROME. 


i! 


There  can  be  no  doubt  that  these  Thermse,  which  were  of 
great  extent,  reached  nearly  across  the  Quirinal  Hill,  occupy- 
ing the  sites  of  the  present  Palazzo  Rospigliosi,  part  of  the 
Colonna  Gardens  and  the  Quirinal  Palace.  Three  statues 
were  found  in  the  ruins,  representing  Constantine  and  two  of 
his  sons.  These  are  supposed  to  have  stood  near  the  grand 
entrance  of  the  Thermae.     The  first  is  now  in  the  Portico  of 


,  .*p?^,  w'X' 


m 


Remains  of  the  Therm.e  of  Constantine  in  the  Colonna  Gardens. 

the  Lateran  Basilica,  the  two  others  were  placed  by  Paul  III. 
on  the  balustrade  of  the  Piazza  Capitolina.  The  famous  pair 
of  the  Dioscuri  and  their  horses,  which  now  ornament  the 
Piazza  di  Monte  Cavallo,  were  also  discovered  on  this  site. 
The  history  of  these  well-known  sculptures  cannot  be  traced 
farther  back  than  the  time  of  Constantine,  whose  Thermae 
they  adorned.  The  old  tradition  which  states  that  they  were 
a  present  from  Tiridates  to  Nero  is  in  some  degree  supported 


THE   IMPERIAL  FORA   AND   THE  CAPITOLIUM. 


125 


by  the  mention  of  the  equi  Tiridatis  in  the  Notitia,  but  is  not 
confirmed  by  any  other  evidence.  That  they  are  not  rightly 
supposed  to  represent  the  Dioscuri  can  hardly  be  doubted, 
and  the  inscriptions  which  ascribe  them  to  the  chisels  of 
Phidias  and  Praxiteles  respectively  are  erroneous. 


|i| 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   VELABRUM   AND    THE    CIRCUS    PLAMINIITS. 

The  church  of  S.  Giorgio  in  Velabro,  which  stands  between 
the  Palatine  Hill  and  the  river  near  the  Piazza  Bocca  della 
Verita,  retains  the  ancient  name  of  this  district,  formerly 
a  swamp  called  the  Velabrum.  This  is  perhaps  the  best 
point  from  which  to  begin  our  survey  of  the  ruins  of  the 

Velabrum. 

Janus  Quadrifrons. — The  most  conspicuous  ruin  near 
the  church  is  the  archway  called  Janus  Quadrifrons,  from  its 
quadrilateral  shape.  It  is  a  massive  square  building  of  white 
marble,  with  four  piers  supporting  as  many  arches  which  are 
united  in  the  centre,  by  a  vaulted  roof.  Each  pier  has  on  the 
exterior  twelve  niches  in  two  rows,  with  semicircular  shell- 
shaped  crowns.  These  two  rows  of  niches  were  formerly 
separated  by  a  projecting  cornice  which  is  now  nearly  destroyed 
except  in  the  interior.  The  niches  nearest  to  the  corners  on  the 
north  and  south  sides  are  not  hollowed  out,  but  only  traced 
on  the  exterior  surface,  in  order  not  to  endanger  the  solidity 
of  the  angles.  The  present  height  of  the  building  is  38 
feet,  but  it  probably  had  an  attica,  originally,  to  which 
the  staircase  still  extant  led,  and  in  which  were  some  small 
rooms  for  the  transaction  of  business.  Upon  the  key-stones 
of  the  arches  two  figures  can  be  still  recognized,  one  of  Rome 
and  the  other  of  the  patroness  of  trade,  Minerva.  The  exterior 
surface  was  doubtless  decorated  with  rows  of  Corinthian 
columns  between  the  niches,  a  large  quantity  of  remains  of 
such  columns  having  been  found  in  clearing  the  base,  and  in 
the  niches  themselves  statues  of  various  deities  probably 
stood. 

The  purpose  of  this  arch  was  probably  solely  ornamental, 


If! 


I 


THE   VELABRUM   AND   THE   CIRCUS   FLAMINIUS. 


129 


and  it  stood  by  itself  in  some  part  of  the  Forum  Boarium. 
The  rooms  in  the  attica  may  have  been  used  for  the  accommo- 
dation of  some  of  the  officials  of  the  cattle  market.  The 
builder  and  date  are  alike  unknown.  From  the  style  of  its 
architecture  and  sculptures,  it  has  been  pronounced  decidedly 
later  than  the  age  of  Domitian,  to  whom  from  his  fondness 
for  building  Jani,  it  might  be  attributed. 

Arcus  Argentariorum. — Close  to  the  Janus  Quadrifrons 
stands  a  stone  ornamental  doorway  now  partly  built  into  the 
wall  of  the  church  of  S.  Giorgio  in  Velabro.  It  is  constructed 
of  brickwork  with  marble  facings,  and  consists  of  two  square 
piers  decorated  with  pilasters  of  the  Composite  or  Roman 
order  at  the  corners  and  surmounted  by  a  horizontal  entabla- 
ture of  rich  carved  work.  There  is  no  trace  of  an  attica  above. 
The  inscription,  still  well  preserved,  shows  that  it  was  erected 
bv  the  money-changers  or  bankers,  and  other  merchants  of  the 
Forum  Boarium,  in  honour  of  Septimius  Severus,  his  wife 
Julia,  and  his  son  Antoninus  (Caracalla).  As  in  the  case  of 
the  Arch  of  Septimius  in  the  Forum,  so  here  the  words  **  iii.  pp. 

PROCOS.    FORTISSIMO    FELICISSIMOQUE  PRINCIPI  and  PARTHICI 

MAXiMi  BRiTANNici  MAXiMi "  wcre  inserted  by  Caracalla  in 
place  of  the  name  and  titles  of  his  murdered  brother  G-eta. 

Not  only  in  the  inscriptions  in  the  time  of  Septimius  Severus, 
but  even  in  the  reliefs  we  everywhere  find  Geta's  name  and 
titles  erased. 

On  the  shafts  of  the  pilasters  are  representations  of  military 
ensigns,  which  bear  upon  their  circular  tablets  and  above  the 
eagles  likenesses  in  relief  of  the  two  Caesars,  Severus  and  Cara- 
calla. The  third  likeness,  that  of  Geta.,  has  been  erased  in 
every  instance.  In  each  of  the  spaces  between  the  pilasters 
are  four  panels  with  sculptures  in  relief.  The  lowest  of  these 
represents  the  merchants  of  the  Forum  Boarium  bringing 
cattle  as  victims  to  the  altar.  The  compartment  above  these 
exhibits  various  instruments  used  in  sacrifice,  similar  to  those 
found  upon  the  Temple  of  Vespasian.  Upon  the  larger  central 
panel  are  the  figures  of  the  imperial  family  engaged  in  sacri- 
ficing, and  it  can  easily  be  seen  that  from  some  of  these  the 
figure  of  Geta  has  been  carefully  chiselled  away. 

In  one  of  these  large  panels  is  the  figure  of  a  barbarian 
captive  with  the  Phrygian  cap  so  common  upon  the  sculptures 
of  the  triumphal  arches.     The  upper  compartments  contain. 


THE   VELABRUM   AND   THE   CIRCUS   FLAMINIUS.         131 

festooned  ornamental  work  and  a  few  figures  of  men.  The 
front  of  the  architrave  and  frieze  is  almost  entirely  occupied 
by  the  inscriptions,  and  is  not  highly  ornamented,  but  the 
cornice,  which  is  divided  into  seven  ledges,  is  overladen  with 
various  decorative  patterns  without  purity  of  design  or  excel- 
lence of  execution.  The  date  of  the  erection  of  this  monument 
is  stated  in  the  inscription  to  be  the  twelfth  year  of  the  tribu- 
nitia  potestas  of  Severus  and  the  seventh  of  Caracalla,  which 
corresjjonds  to  the  year  a.d.  204.  Reber  thinks  it  possible 
that  the  merchants  of  the  Forum  Boarium  intended  it  as 
a  testimonial  of  gratitude  to  Severus  for  having  built  the 
neighbouring  Janus  Quadrifrons  to  ornament  their  quarter  of 
the  city. 

Cloaca  Maxima. — One  of  the  oldest  monuments  of 
Eoman  masonry  is  the  remaining  portion  of  a  cloaca  in  this 
district,  commonly  identified  with  the  Cloaca  Maxima  of  Livy, 
which  reaches  from  a  spot  near  the  church  of  S.  Giorgio  in 
Velabro  and  the  Janus  Quadrifrons  to  the  Tiber  bank  near  the 
Ponte  Rotto.  The  ancient  archway  has  been  broken  open  here, 
and  can  be  reached  by  descending  into  a  hollow  near  the  Janus 
Quadrifrons.  Near  the  Janus  Quadrifrons,  at  the  above-men- 
tioned spot,  seven  cloacae  unite  and  pour  their  waters  into  the 
still  extant  portion  of  the  Cloaca  Maxima,  so  that  a  large  stream 
is  constantly  flowing  through  it.  These  branch  sewers  are  built 
with  solid  brick  arches,  but  the  main  archway,  though  fronted 
with  modern  brickwork,  consists  of  massive  blocks  of  tufa, 
and  at  short  intervals  of  every  few  yards  has  an  arch  of 
travertine  introduced,  to  add  to  its  solidity  and  strength. 
The  original  size  of  the  archway,  one-third  of  which  is  now 
choked  up  with  mud,  was  12  feet  4  inches  high,  and  10  feet 
8  inches  wide.  Strabo  and  Pliny  say  that  a  cart  loaded  with 
hay  could  pass  through  some  of  the  Eoman  sewers,  and 
certainly  in  the  case  of  this  cloaca,  it  would  not  be  impossible 
were  it  cleared  of  mud. 

M.  Agrippa,  the  Haussmann  of  Rome,  is  said,  when  aedile,  to 
have  traversed  the  main  sewer  in  a  boat.  The  whole  length 
of  this  remaining  portion  is  at  least  340  yards,  and  it  makes 
several  bends,  following  probably  the  direction  of  the  ancient 
streets.  The  mouth  till  lately  was  visible,  when  the  Tiber  was 
not  high,  at  a  spot  called  the  Pulchrum  Litus,  near  the  round 
temple  usually  called  the  Temple  of  Vesta.   The  immense  size 


i 


I 


Arcls  Argentariori m. 


1 


THE  VELABRUM  AND  THE  CIRCUS  FLAMINIUS.        133 


is  due  to  the  fact  that  it  was  not  only  a  sewer  for  refuse,  but  a 
drain  for  the  lake  of  the  Velabrum,  and  the  many  land  springs 
of  the  Forum,  and  must  be  classed  with  the  emissarium  of  the 
Alban  Lake  and  other  gigantic  undertakings  of  the  kind,  such 
as  the  cuniculus  at  Veii,  executed  about  b.c.  539.  For  a 
distance  of  about  40  feet  from  the  mouth  the  cloaca  is  con- 
structed of  a  triple  arch  of  peperino,  mixed  with  some  blocks 
of  tufa,  but  throughout  the  rest  of  its  course  it  consists  of  a 
single  arch  of  tufa  with  occasional  bands  of  travertine.  The 
masonry  along  the  embankment  of  the  shore  on  each  side,  is 
partly  of  peperino  and  partly  of  tufa  and  travertine  blocks 
laid  along  and  across  alternately. 

Livy  gives  the  early  history  of  this  extraordinary  work  in 
his  first  Book.  In  the  thirty-eighth  chapter  he  ascribes  the 
commencement  of  the  undertaking  of  draining  the  Velabrum 
and  Forum  to  Tarquinius  Priscus,  and  in  the  fifty-sixth  he 
says  that  Tarquinius  Superbus  completed  the  Cloaca  Maxima 
as  a  receptacle  for  the  refuse  of  the  whole  city.  Dionysius 
agrees  in  giving  the  same  account  of  the  origin  of  the  system 
of  cloacae,  and  Pliny  enumerates  the  cloacae  among  the  wonders 
of  the  great  metropolis,  and  expressly  mentions  Tarquinius 
Priscus  as  entitled  to  the  credit  of  having  first  originated  this 
great  work  of  public  utility.  His  words  are — "  Seven  streams, 
after  traversing  the  city,  are  united  and  their  water  so  com- 
pressed into  one  channel  as  to  sweep  everything  along  with  it 
like  a  torrent,  and  when  a  great  body  of  rain-water  is  added  to 
this  the  very  walls  are  shaken  by  the  agitated  waters ;  and 
sometimes  the  Tiber  rises  and  beats  back  into  them,  and  vast 
opposing  masses  of  water  meet  and  struggle,  yet  the  solidity 
of  their  masonry  resists  and  stands  firm.  Huge  weights  are 
carried  over  them,  whole  buildings  undermined  by  fire  or  by 
some  accident  fall  upon  them,  earthquakes  shake  the  very 
ground  around  them,  yet  they  have  lasted  for  seven  hundred 
years  from  the  time  of  Tarquinius  Priscus  almost  uninjured, 
a  monument  of  antiquity  which  ought  to  be  the  more  carefully 
observed  since  it  has  been  passed  over  in  silence  by  some  of 
our  most  celebrated  historians." 

The  Tarquins  are  said  to  have  compelled  the  Eoman  people 
to  work  at  these  huge  structures,  just  as  the  kings  of  Egypt 
and  Assyria  exacted  task-work  from  their  subjects  ;  but  in 
palliation  of  the  cruelties  alleged  against  them  by  the  his- 


134 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


torians  it  must  be  noted  that  in  the  one  case  buildings  of 
permanent  public  service  were  built,  while  in  the  other,  only 
the  vanity  of  a  despot  was  flattered. 

Temple  of  Fortuna.— Notfarfromthe  Janus  Quadrifrons, 
and  close  to  the  Pons  vEmilius,  or  Ponte  Kotto,  stands  a 
small  temple,  now  converted  into  the  church  of  S.  Maria 
Egiziaca,  which  presents  an  unsolved  problem  in  Eoman 
topography.  The  substruction  of  this  temple,  which  has  been 
laid  bare,  consists  of  tufa  (;ased  with  travertine.  The  form  of 
the  temple  is  that  called  tetrastylos  by  Vitruvius,  having  four 
Ionic  columns  in  front  and  seven  at  the  sides.  The  four 
front  columns  and  two  on  each  side,  forming  the  pronaos, 
originally  stood  clear,  but  are  now  inclosed  within  the  wall 
of  the  church.  The  remaining  five  on  each  side  with  those  at 
the  back  were  half  columns  set  against  the  wall  of  the  cella. 
The  shafts  of  the  half  columns  are  of  tufa,  but  the  bases  and 
capitals,  with  the  entablature  and  the  columns  of  the  pronaos, 
are  of  travertine.  On  the  frieze  and  cornice  are  the  remains 
of  ornamental  work,  which  is  now  rendered  almost  invisible 
by  the  stucco  with  which  the  walls  have  been  covered.  The 
Ionic  volutes  on  the  corner  ca])itals  of  this  temple  are  in  the 
later  style,  while  the  side  capitals  are  in  the  usual  style. 

This  building  has  usually  been  supposed  to  be  the  temple 
dedicated  by  Servius  Tullius  to  Fortuna  Virilis,  and  situated 
on  the  bank  of  the  Tiber.  The  passage  of  Dionysius  upon 
which  this  supposition  rests  is  as  follows :  "  Servius  Tullius 
built  two  temples  to  Fortune,  one  in  the  Forum  Boarium, 
and  the  other  u\H)n  the  bank  of  the  Tiber."  ^ 

It  is  most  probable,  as  Kel)er  suggests,  that  we  have  here 
the  Temple  of  Servius  dedicated  to  Fortune  without  any 
special  title.  Dionysius,  as  we  have  seen,  places  this  in  the 
Forum  Boarium,  and  Livy  describes  it  as  intra  portam 
Carmentalem,  and  mentions  it  in  tracing  the  course  of  a 
conflagration  between  the  Salinae  near  the  Porta  Trigemina 
and  the  Porta  Cannentalis.  But  there  was  another  temple, 
that  of  Mater  Matuta,  which  stood  close  to  the  Temple  of 
Fortune,  and  there  is  no  evidence  showing  to  which  of  the 
two  the  ruin  in  question  belonged.  Both  were  founded  by 
Servius,  and  reckoned  among  the  most  venerable  relics  of 

*  Dionys.  iv.  27. 


^^} 


i! 


Templk  of  Fortuna. 


136 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


ancient  Rome.  Becker  urges  the  claims  of  the  Temple  of 
Pudicitia  Patricia,  which  Livy  places  in  the  Forum  Boarium 
near  the  round  Temple  of  Hercules,  to  this  site.  But  this 
was  merely  a  small  shrine,  containing  a  statue,  and  not  a 
templum.  So  far  as  an  opinion  can  be  formed  of  the  date  of 
the  temple  from  the  materials  and  style  of  architecture,  it 
seems  to  belong  to  the  later  republic. 

So-called  Temple  of  Vesta.— On  the  Piazza  della  Bocca 
della  Verita,  at  a  short  distance  from  the  temple  we  have  just 
been  considering,  stand  the  remains  of  a  small  round  temple 
commonly  called  the  Temple  of  Vesta.  Perhaps  of  all  the 
ruins  of  Rome  this  is  the  most  familiar  to  the  eye  of  the 
tourist.  A  considerable  part  of  the  cella  is  still  standing, 
ornamented  with  a  simple  and  elegant  cornice.  Round  this 
stand  nineteen  graceful  Corinthian  columns  of  white  marble. 
The  entablature  is  unfortunately  destroyed,  and  the  rude 
modem  tiled  roof  with  which  the  building  has  been  capped 
completely  spoils  the  picturesque  effect  of  the  ruin. 

The  name  now  given  to  it  rests  on  no  other  evidence  than 
its  circular  shape,  and  as  we  have  no  mention  of  a  Temple  of 
Vesta  in  the  Forum  Boarium  it  must  be  at  once  condemned 
as  a  misnomer.  It  has  also  been  called  the  Temple  of  the 
Sibyl  or  the  Temple  of  Cybele  without  better  reason.  The 
most  prolmble  conjecture  as  to  its  name  is  that  first  suggested 
by  Piale,  that  it  is  the  round  Temple  of  Hercules  in  the 
Forum  Boarium  mentioned  in  the  tenth  Book  of  Livy,  and 
alluded  to  by  Festus  as  the  iEmilian  Temple  of  Hercules. 
The  appellation  ^Emiliana  certainly  seems  to  iK)int  to  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  ^Emilian  bridge.  The  style  of  its 
architecture  may  be  attributed  to  a  restoration  in  the  latter 
half  of  the  first  century  a.d.  Formerly,  it  was  called  the 
Church  of  Madonna  del  Sole,  from  a  favourite  image  of  the 
Virgin  in  it,  and  at  an  earlier  period  S.  Stefano  delle  Carozze, 
from  the  discovery  of  a  marble  model  of  a  chariot  in  its 
neighbourhood,  but  in  1810  it  was  cleared  out  and  restored, 
and  since  then  it  has  not  been  used  as  a  church,  but  contains 
a  small  collection  of  marble  fragments. 

Temple  of  Ceres. — At  the  entrance  of  the  valley  of  the 
Circus  Maxim  us,  and  on  the  south  side  of  the  Piazza  della  Bocca 
della  Verita  stands  the  church  of  S.  Maria  in  Cosmedin  which  is 
built  upon  the  ruins  of  an  ancient  temple.     Ten  columns  still 


CO 


u 


xn 


u 


H 


u 


I 


138 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


remain  in  their  original  places,  seven  of  which  stand  in  a 
line  parallel  to  the  entrance,  and  three  others  in  the  left- 
hand  side  wall  of  the  church.  Some  of  the  columns  are 
built  into  the  walls  of  the  sacristies  on  the  right  of  the 
entrance,  and  reach  through  the  roofs  to  the  upper  story. 
The  material  of  which  they  are  made  is  white  marble,  and 
the  order  to  which  they  belong  the  Composite.  Parts  of  the 
wall  of  the  cella  may  still  he  seen  in  the  sacristy,  built  of 
tufa  which  was  originally  faced  with  marble.  The  design 
of  the  capitals  and  chiselling  of  the  ornamental  work  upon 
them  is  of  the  best  period  of  art,  and  one  of  them  may  con- 
veniently he  examined  in  the  room  over  the  sacraria,  and 
in  the  organ  loft.  Behind  the  apse  of  the  church  are  some 
large  chaml)ers  built  of  massive  blocks  of  travertine,  which 
were  probably  attached  to  the  Carceres  of  the  Circus  as 
stables  or  offices  of  some  kind,  and  the  position  of  these 
compels  us  to  assume  that  the  front  of  the  temple  faced 
towards  the  Velabrum,  and  that  the  seven  columns  parallel 
to  the  facade  of  the  present  church  belonged  to  the  side  of 
the  temple,  while  the  three  in  the  left-hand  wall  formed  a 
part  of  the  front.  Otherwise  the  travertine  chambers  at  the 
back  must  have  formed  some  part  of  the  temple,  and  it 
is  difficult  to  see  how  this  could  have  been  the  case,  as 
they  are  evidently  not  the  walls  of  the  cella,  and  cannot 
be  brought  into  any  symmetrical  position  with  the  rows  of 
columns. 

The  Temples  of  Pudicitia  Patricia,  of  Mater  Matuta,  and  of 
Fortune  have  been  severally  identified  with  these  ruins  by 
the  writers  of  Roman  topography.  But  it  has  been  shown 
already  that  the  first  of  these  was  probably  a  mere  chapel,  and 
that  the  other  two  must  be  placed  nearer  to  the  Carmental 
gate,  and  therefore  the  conjecture  of  Canina  that  the  church 
of  S.  Maria  in  Cosmedin  was  the  Temple  of  Ceres,  Liber,  and 
Libera  appears  much  more  likely  to  be  true.  For  that 
temple  is  included  in  the  eleventh  region  by  the  Curiosum 
and  Notitia,  and  is  placed  by  Vitruvius,  Tacitus,  and  Pliny 
close  to  the  Circus  Maximus,  while  Dionysius  expressly  says 
that  it  stood  just  over  the  barriers  of  the  Circus  Maximus. 
The  account  of  Vitruvius  answers  to  the  ruins  which  still 
remain.  For  he  says  that  the  temple  was  of  the  description 
called  araeostyle,  i.e.,  with  wide  intercolumnar  intervals,  and 


L 


S.  Maria  in  Cosmedix. 


140 


ANCIENT  ROME. 


it  will  be  found  that  the  intervals  between  the  columns  now 
standing  are  nearly  four  times  their  diameter.  Vitruvius 
also  says  that  it  was  of  the  Tuscan  order  of  architecture, 
and  in  this  seems  to  contradict  Pliny,  who,  quoting  Varro's 
authority,  speaks  of  it  as  the  first  temple  at  Rome  which 
had  Greek  ornamental  work.  Their  statements  may  be 
reconciled  by  observing  that  Pliny  is  speaking  of  the  decora- 
tions of  the*  temple  by  Damophilus  and  Gorgasis,  and  not 
of  the  style  of  architecture.  The  araeostyle  arrangement  of 
the  columns  was  probably  preserved  even  after  the  complete 
restoration  by  Tiberius,  at  which  time,  as  Pliny  relates,  the  old 
Greek  frescoes  were  cut  out  and  framed,  and  the  terra  cotta 
statues  removed  from  the  roof.  The  temple  was  first  vowed 
by  A.  Postumius,  the  dictator  in  the  Latin  war  of  b.c.  497, 
on  account  of  the  great  scarcity  of  provisions  which  then 
prevailed.  It  was  dedicated  three  years  afterwards  by  the 
Consul  Spurius  Cassius,  a  statesman  who  showed  a  disposition 
to  imitate  the  great  architectural  works  of  the  regal  period, 
contrary  to  the  generally  frugal  spirit  of  the  early  republican 
fathers.  In  the  year  b.c.  31,  a  destructive  fire,  which  raged 
between  the  Circus  and  the  Forum  Olitorium,  destroyed  the 
Temple,  and  with  it  some  of  the  most  valuable  treasures  of 
Greek  art  which  it  contained.  Among  these,  besides  the 
frescoes  of  Damophilus  and  Gorgasis  above  mentioned,  was 
the  famous  picture  of  Dionysius  by  Aristides,  for  which 
Attalus  bid  sixteen  talents,  a  price  which  excited  the  attention 
of  Mummius,  and  induced  him,  although  unable  himself  to 
appreciate  the  merits  of  such  works  of  art,  to  suspect  its 
value,  and  carry  it  to  Rome  in  spite  of  the  remonstrances  of 
Attalus. 

The  restoration  was  undertaken  by  Augustus,  and  finished 
by  Tiberius  in  a.d.  17.  This  temple  was  to  the  Plebeian 
iEdiles  what  the  Temple  of  Saturn  was  to  the  quaestors,  and 
it  was  enacted  that  the  decrees  of  the  Senate  should  be 
delivered  over  to  the  ^Ediles  there,  an  enactment  which  seems 
never  to  have  been  carried  out.^ 

The  mediaeval  names  of  this  church,  in  Cosmedin,  and 
in  Schola  Graeca,  seem  to  point  to  the  possession  of  the  church 
by  Greek  monks  after  the  division  of  the  empire,  and  the 

'  Tac.  Ann.  ii.  49.  Dionys.  vi.  7,  94.  Vitruv.  iii.  3,  5.  Plin.  N.  H. 
XXXV.  4,  24  ;  10,  99  ;  12,  154. 


THE  VELABRUM  AND  THE  CIRCUS  FLAMINIUS.        141 

piazza  in  which  it  stands  is  called  Bocca  della  Verita  from  the 
strange  figure  of  a  head  under  the  modern  portico  of  the 
church,  in  the  mouth  of  which  it  is  said  that  persons  whose 
veracity  lay  under  suspicion  were  required  to  place  their 
hands  while  making  oath,  in  the  belief  that  the  mouth 
would  close  upon  their  hands  if  the  oath  taken  was  a  false 
one. 

Carceres  of  the  Circus  Maximus. — Immediately  be- 
hind the  church  are  the  arched  buildings  of  travertine  blocks 
which  have  already  been  mentioned  as  belonging  to  the  Car- 
ceres  of  the  Circus.  The  largest  of  these  is  now  used  as 
a  store-room  for  articles  of  church  furniture,  and  stands 
on  the  right  side  of  the  tribune  of  the  church.  They  are 
perhaps  situated  too  far  towards  the  river  to  be  portions  of 
the  actual  Carceres  from  which  the  chariots  started,  but  thev 
may  have  formed  one  side  of  a  courtyard  behind  the  Carceres, 
in  which  the  harnessing  and  preparation  for  the  races  took 
I)lace. 

Theatre  of  Marcellus. — The  ruins  of  the  Theatre  of 
Marcellus  which  are  still  standing  in  the  Piazza  Montanara 
afford  us  a  fixed  point  from  which  to  begin  our  survey  of  the 
region  of  the  Circus  Flaminius,  which  lies  to  the  north-west  of 
the  Velabrum.  For  it  appears  certain  that  the  ancient  half 
columns,  arches,  and  other  ruins  evidently  belonging  to  a 
semicircular  theatre,  which  are  now  covered  by  the  Palazzo 
Orsini  Savelli,  belonged  to  the  theatre  of  Marcellus.  Suetonius 
distinctly  places  this  theatre  under  the  Tarpeian  hill,-  and  of  the 
other  two  stone  theatres  at  Rome  we  know  that  the  Pompeian 
lay  further  to  the  north-west,  and  that  the  theatre  of  Balbus 
was  near  the  Ponte  Sisto.  The  masonry  and  architectural 
details  of  this  building,  though  corresponding  in  many  respects 
with  the  Coliseum  are  more  carefully  worked,  and  show  an 
•earlier  and  better  period  of  art. 

There  had  previously  been  a  stone  scena  built  near  this 
spot  by  ^milius  Lepidus,  which  was  perhaps  used  by  Julius 
Caesar  who  first  began  to  build  this  theatre.  It  was  not 
finished  until  the  year  b.c.  11  when  Augustus  opened  it,  and 
named  it  after  his  nephew  Marcellus,  son  of  Octavia.  In 
the  time  of  the  Flavii  the  scena  was  restored,  having 
perhaps  suffered  from  the  fire  which  burnt  the  Porticus 
Octavia?,   and   it   seems  to   have   again   required  repairs  in 


|i 


THE  VELABRUM  AND  THE  CIRCUS  FLAMINIUS.        143 

the  time  of  Alexander  Sevenis,  who  is  said  to  have  wished  to 
restore  it.^ 

The  Curiosum  mentions  it  as  if  still  in  use,  and  gives  the 
number  of  spectators  it  would  contain  as  20,000.  In  the 
Middle  Ages  it  was,  like  all  the  other  great  buildings  of 
Rome,  turned  into  a  castle  by  Pietro  Leone,  a  nobleman  of 
great  power  in  the  time  of  Urban  II.  and  Pascal  II.,  and 
celebrated  for  his  factious  violence.  The  shape  of  the  build- 
ing was  thus  completely  altered.  The  great  family  of  the 
Savelli  came  into  possession  of  it  in  the  twelfth  century, 
following  Pietro  Leone,  and  after  them  the  Orsini.  The 
lower  stories  are  now  occupied  by  workshops,  small  wine 
vaults,  and  rag  and  bone  warehouses,  frequented  by  the 
rustics  of  the  Campagna,  who  are  usually  to  be  seen  in 
considerable  numbers   in  the   Piazza   Montanara    in   front 

of  it. 

From  the  piazza  two  rows  of  the  exterior  arcades  are 
visible,  each  containing  twelve  arches  and  thirteen  columns  of 
travertine.  The  lower  arcade  is  now  buried  to  the  depth  of 
one-third  of  its  surface  below  the  level  of  the  present  ground. 
Its  half  columns  are  of  the  Doric  order,  with  a  Doric  entabla- 
ture and  triglyphs,  and  are  surmounted  by  a  low  attica  with 
projecting  bases  for  the  half  columns  of  the  upper  arcade. 
The  height  of  this  upper  arcade  was  originally  somewhat  less 
than  that  of  the  lower.  It  has  half  columns  of  the  Ionic 
order,  carrying  a  simple  entablature  with  an  architrave  of 
three  projecting  ledges,  a  plain  frieze,  and  a  cornice  with 
toothed  mouldings.  No  actual  remains  of  a  third  arcade 
above  these  two  are  now  to  be  found,  but  it  can  hardly 
be  doubted  that  one  existed  originally,  and  that  it  was  of  the 
Corinthian  order.  Some  parts  of  the  substructions  of  tha 
seats  are  said  to  be  still  extant  in  the  cellars  of  the  Savelli 
residence,  consisting  of  diverging  walls  similar  to  those  still  to- 
be  seen  in  the  Coliseum.  By  means  of  these,  the  ground  plan 
of  the  cavea  of  the  theatre  can  be  completely  restored.  There 
are  no  remains  of  the  scena.  Upon  one  of  the  fragments  of 
the  Capitoline  plan,  partly  restored,  the  name  Theatrum  Mar- 
celli  is  legible.  There  seems,  however,  to  be  some  doubt  as  to 
the  genuineness  of  this  fragment. 

1  Auson.  Sept.  Sap.  prol.  22.  Mon.  Ancyr.  tab.  iv.  Hist.  Aug. 
Alex.  Sev.  44. 


\f^ 


144 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


The  Ponte  Rotto.— The  bridge  near  the  theatre  of  Mar- 
cellus  is  now  called  the  Ponte  Rotto  from  its  broken  condition. 
The  two  remaining  arches  are  not  ancient,  but  probably  stand 
upon  the  site  of  an  ancient  bridge  which  was  called  the  Pons 
^milius.  Livy  mentions  this  bridge  as  the  first  stone  bridge 
built  over  the  Tiber,  and  states  that  it  was  begun  in  b.c.  179 
by  M.  Fulvius  Nobilior,  and  M.  ^Emilius  Lepidus  the  censor, 
whose  name  was  given  to  the  Basilica  Emilia,  and  that  it 
was  finished  in  B.C.  142  bv  the  Censors  Publius  Scipio 
Africanus,  and  L.  Mummius.  The  bridge  was  named  after 
M.  ^milius  Lepidus  as  Pontifex  Maximus,  and  as  a  more 
popular  statesman  than  Fulvius.  The  bridge  afterwards 
bore  the  name  pons  lapideus,  from  being  the  first  stone  bridge 
built  over  the  Tiber,  and  in  contradistinction  to  the  pons 
sublicius. 

There  is  abundant  evidence  as  to  the  position  of  this 
bridge,  for  the  Fasti  Capranici  place  it  ad  Theatrum 
Marcelli,  and  the  Cosmographia  of  ^thicus  ad  Fonuu 
Boarium,  both  of  which  indications  point  to  the  Ponte 
Rotto. 

Island  of  the  Tiber. — A  short  distance  above  the 
^milian  bridge  is  the  island  of  the  Tiber.  This  island  was 
formerly  embanked  with  travertine  in  the  shape  of  a  colossal 
ship.  It  has  been  recently  partially  destroyed,  and  but  little 
remains  of  its  former  shape.  According  to  the  legend,  this 
island  was  formed  by  the  corn  belonging  to  the  Tarquins 
grown  on  the  Campus  Martins,  which  after  their  expulsion 
was  consecrated  to  Mars.  After  consecration  the  corn  could 
not  be  used  for  food,  and  was  therefore  cut  and  thrown  into 
the  Tiber,  and  from  this  corn,  when  collected  into  heaps  by  the 
stream,  the  island  was  formed.  Until  the  fifth  century  of  the 
city,  the  island  remained  consecrated  and  uninhabited,  but  in 
B.C.  292  a  Temple  of  ^Esculapius  was  built  upon  it  in  conse- 
quence, as  the  story  went,  of  the  holy  snake  brought  from 
Epidaurus  having  swum  to  shore  there.  Two  bridges  were 
built,  one  on  each  side  of  the  island  probably  at  this  time, 
whence  the  name  inter  duos  pontes  was  given  to  it. 

The  bridge  on  the  side  towards  the  Campus  Martins  was 
built  by  L.  Fabricius  in  b.c.  62,  as  the  inscri])tion  still  extant 
on  the  bridge  shows  In  accordance  with  this  we  find  Dion 
Cassius  giving  it  the  name  of  Pons  Fabricius,  and  a  coin  with 


146 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


the  title  L.  Fabricius  gives  on  the  other  side  a  bridge  with  a 
snake,  plainly  pointing  to  the  island  of  the  Tiber. 

Another  inscription,  also  still  remaining  upon  the  bridge, 
states  that  it  was  examined  and  found  in  good  repair  by 
Q.  Lepidus  and  M,  Lollius,  consuls  in  b.c.  21. 

This  bridge  is  the  oldest  now  standing  on  the  Tiber,  and  the 
masonry  is  of  admirable  solidity  and  workmanship.  It  was 
called,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  Pons  Judaeus,  from  its  proximity  to 
the  Jews'  quarter  of  the  city,  and  now  bears  the  name  Quattro 
Capi  from  the  jani  quadrifrontes  which  stand  upon  it.^  These 
jani  were  formerly  the  posts  which  supported  the  railings  of 
the  bridge,  as  may  be  seen  by  the  holes  bored  in  them  for  the 
ancient  bronze  bars. 

The  twin  bridge  on  the  right-hand  side  of  the  river  dates 
from  the  imperial  era,  and  probably,  like  the  Pons  Fabricius, 
replaced  a  much  older  bridge  of  the  same  age  as  the  Temple  of 
iEsculapius. 

Two  inscriptions  are  still  legible  on  this  bridge,  from 
which  we  learn  that  it  was  finished  in  a.d.  370,  and  dedi- 
cated to  the  use  of  the  Roman  people  in  the  name  of  the 
Emperor  Gratianus,  by  Valentinian,  Valens  and  Gratianus. 
These  inscriptions  must  be  understood  as  referring  to  the 
rebuilding  of  the  bridge,  though  they  are  so  worded  as  to 
claim  the  credit  of  its  first  erection.  That  there  was  an  older 
bridge  is  clear,  not  only  from  the  fact  that  the  island  was 
called  inter  duos  pontes  before  the  time  of  Gratian,  but  also 
from  the  name  pons  Cestius,  which  occurs  in  the  Notitia,  and 
undoubtedly  belongs  to  that  bridge.  It  is  not  clear  who 
Cestius  was,  but  it  is  generally  supposed  that  a  prsefectus 
urbi  of  that  name  in  b.c.  46  is  the  person  after  whom  the 
bridge  was  named,  and  this  agrees  with  the  statement  of 
Dion  Cassius  about  the  building  of  the  Fabrician  bridge. 

S.  Nicola  in  Carcere.— The  church  of  S.  Nicola  in 
Carcere,  which  stands  in  the  Via  della  Bocca  della  Verita 
close  to  the  Piazza  Montanara,  contains  the  remains  of  two  or 
perhaps  of  three  temples.  These  ruins  consist  first  of  three 
fluted  columns  of  travertine  with  Ionic  capitals,  which  stand 
in  the  fa9ade  of  the  church  of  S.  Nicola.  Above  them  is  a 
part  of  the  ancient  entablature,  and  in  the  room  to  the  left 

*  See  Reber,  Ruinen  Ronis,  p.  316.     Eckhel,  Num.  Vet.  torn.  v. 
p.  210. 


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148 


ANCIENT    ROME. 


of  the  portico  of  the  church  are  two  more  columns  built  into 
the  wall.  In  the  nave  of  the  church  on  the  left  hand  are 
remains  of  the  cella  of  the  temple,  to  the  pronaos  of  which 
the  five  columns  belonged.  The  walls  of  the  cella  were,  as 
has  been  discovered  by  excavations,  constructed  of  travertine 
blocks.  At  the  end  of  this  left-hand  wall  of  the  cella,  there 
stood  before  the  last  restoration  of  the  church,  the  remains 
of  a  pilaster  of  the  Doric  order  with  an  Attic  base,  and  oppo- 
site to  this  i)ilaster  another  column.  The  position  of  the 
six  columns  shows  that  the  temple  was  of  the  form  called 
peripteros,  i.e.,  surrounded  by  a  continuous  colonnade. 

On  the  ri<^ht-hand  side  aisle  of  the  church  are  five  other 
columns  built  into  the  wall,  and  a  pilaster,  all  of  which  evi- 
dently belonged  to  a  second  temple  standing  side  by  side  with 
the  first.  These  columns  are  not  so  high  as  those  of  the  first 
temi)le  described,  and  their  style  and  the  intervals  between 
them  are  different.  A  portion  of  the  entablature,  which  is  of 
a  simple  character,  still  surmounts  them.  Two  more  columns 
of  this  temple  are  to  be  seen  in  the  wall  of  the  house  which 
stands  to  the  nght  of  the  church.  It  was  surrounded  with 
colonnades  on  three  sides,  but  the  back  of  the  cella  was 
ornamented  with  pilasters  only. 

On  the  left-hand  side  of  the  church  are  six  more  half- 
ex^x)sed  columns,  and  some  remains  of  an  entablature  which 
may  have  either  Monged  to  a  third  and  smaller  temple 
standing  by  the  side  of  the  first,  or  may  have  been  merely 
the  portico  of  some  other  building. 

The  materials  of  which  these  buildings  consist  are  chiefly 
travertine  and  peperino,  and  their  difference  of  style  shows 
them  to  have  been  erected  at  different  times,  probably  during 
the  Age  of  the  Republic.  It  is  commonly  assumed,  from 
their  position  near  the  theatre  of  Marcellus,  that  they  are  to 
be  identified  with  the  Temples  of  Spes  and  Juno  Sospita. 
As  the  Temple  of  Pietas  was  removed  to  make  room  for  the 
theatre,  we  cannot  suppose  that  we  have  here  any  part  of 
it,  and  the  Temple  of  Janus  would  probably  have  assumed  a 
different  form. 

It  is  recorded  by  Livy  that  M.  Acilius  Glabrio  erected  an 
equestrian  statue  near  the  Temple  of  Pietas.  During  some 
excavations  made  in  1808  by  the  architect  Valadier,  the 
pedestal  of  an  equestrian  statue  was  found  in  the  small  piazza 


THE   VELABRUM   AND   THE   CIRCUS   FLAMINIUS. 


149 


opposite  to  the  church  of  S.  Nicola.  It  appears  possible  that 
when  the  Temple  of  Pietas  was  removed  to  make  way  for  the 
theatre,  this  statue  may  have  been  preserved  and  set  up  here 
as  near  as  possible  to  the  original  site.^ 

Portico  of  Octavia. — In  the  street  called  the  Via  di 
Pescaria,  which  runs  north-westwards  from  the  Theatre  of 
Marcellus,  stand  four  fluted  Corinthian  columns,  two  on  each 
side  of  the  street.  These  formed  part  of  the  principal  en- 
trance to  a  colonnade  or  portico,  some  of  the  other  columns 
of  which  can  be  traced  at  intervals  in  the  walls.  The 
entrance  or  gateway  faced  towards  the  south-west,  and  over 
the  arch  looking  into  the  little  Piazza  di  Pescaria  will 
be  seen  an  inscription  recording  its  restoration  after  a  fire, 
by  Septimius  Severus  and  Caracalla  (M.  Aurelius  Anto- 
ninus) in  the  vear  a.d.  203,  the  eleventh  year  of  the  tri- 
bunitian  power  of  Severus.  No  traces  can  be  found  of  the 
erasure  of  Geta's  name,  which  Caracalla,  as  we  have  seen, 
caused  to  be  effaced  after  Geta's  death  from  all  the  inscrip- 
tions containing  it.  There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  it  was 
originally  placed  here  after  the  name  of  Caracalla,  since 
Severus  was  careful  to  pay  equal  honour  to  both  of  his  sons 
in  all  respects.  The  whole  inscription  may  have  been  re- 
placed by  a  new  one,  or  the  fourth  line  may  have  been  com- 
pletely effaced  and  altered.  As  it  now  stands  the  inscription  has 
been  restored  as  follows :  '*  imp.  cjes.  l.  septimius  severus, 

PIUS.  PERTINAX.  AUG.  ARABIC.  ADIABENIC.  PARTHIC.  MAXIMUS. 
TRIE.  POTEST.  XI.  IMP.  XI.  COS.  III.  P.  P.  ET  IMP.  C^S.  M. 
AURELIUS.  ANTONINUS.  PIUS.  FELIX.  AUG.  TRIE.  POTEST.  VI. 
cos.     PROCOS.     PORTICUM     INCENDIO    CONSUMPTAM     RESTITUE- 


EUNT 


>> 


The  pediment  and  tympanum  over  the  inscription  are  still 
preserved,  but  two  of  the  columns  below  have  been  replaced 
by  a  high  brickwork  arch,  probably  of  the  fifth  century,  which 
now  supports  the  inscription  and  pediment.  Passing  round 
again  into  the  street  Via  di  Pescaria,  we  find  ourselves  in  the 
interior  of  the  gateway.  It  consisted  of  four  columns  placed 
on  each  side  between  two  antae  or  projecting  piers  ornamented 
with  pilasters,  and  was  of  larger  dimensions  than  the  colon- 
nades to  which  it  formed  the  entrance.    The  brickwork  of  the 

'  Ann.  deir  Inst.  1850,  p.  347.    Monum.  v.  xxiv. 


O 

0, 


THE  VELABRUM   AND   THE   CIRCUS   FLAMINIUS.         151 

antae  was  originally  faced  with  marble,  and  they  supported 
arches  which  led  into  the  colonnades  along  the  line  of  the 
street.  The  bases  of  the  columns  are  now  buried  in  rubbish, 
but  parts  of  the  architecture,  frieze,  and  cornice,  which  are  of 
a  simple  description,  may  be  still  traced  over  the  front.  The 
inner  side  of  the  gateway,  with  the  exception  of  the  two 
columns  and  the  pier  which  stand  at  the  entrance  of  the  Via 
di  S.  Angelo  in  Pescaria,  has  been  removed  to  make  room  for 
the  church  of  S.  Michaele  Archangelo. 

If  we  enter  the  street  just  mentioned,  the  capital  of  a 
column  may  be  seen  on  the  right  hand,  and  in  the  yard 
stand  three  others,  with  a  portion  of  the  architecture  above 
them.  Their  position  shows  that  they  formed  the  corner  of  a 
temple. 

There  is  ample  proof  that  we  have  in  the  ruins  just  de- 
scribed, the  entrance  gateway  of  the  Porticus  Octaviae  and 
the  corner  of  the  temple  of  Juno  Regina.  For  Festus  states 
that  there  were  two  Octavian  porticoes,  one  built  in  honour 
of  Octavia,  the  sister  of  Augustus,  near  the  Theatre  of 
Marcellus,  and  a  second  close  to  the  Theatre  of  Pompeius, 
built  by  Q.  Octavius,  the  conqueror  of  Perses.  The  site  upon 
which  the  former  was  built  had  been  previously  occupied  by 
the  Porticus  Metelli,  built  by  Q.  Metellus  Macedonicus,  pro- 
prfietor  in  b.c.  146,  and  the  Octavian  portico  was  a  complete 
restoration  of  this  by  Augustus.' 

Pliny  also  mentions  two  statues  of  Apollo  near  the  Porticus 
Octaviae,  which  probably  stood  in  the  Temple  of  Apollo, 
known  to  have  been  situated  outside  the  Porta  Carmentalis 
between  the  Forum  Olitorium  and  the  Circus  Flaminius.  But 
the  principal  evidence  is  derived  from  the  plan  of  Rome,  now 
on  the  staircase  of  the  Capitoline  Museum,  where  the  whole 
design  of  this  portico  is  laid  down,  and  the  temples  which 
it  inclosed  are  named.  We  learn  from  this  plan  that  the 
portico  was  in  form  an  oblong  space  inclosed  with  colonnades, 
and  that  the  ruins  now  remainmg  constituted  the  principal 
entrance  to  this  court,  and  to  the  Temple  of  Juno  Regina 
which  it  inclosed.  The  line  of  the  Via  di  Pescaria  corre- 
sponds to  one  of  the  shorter  sides  of  the  court,  and  in  the 
centre  of  this  side  the  gateway  stood.     In  two  points  only 

»  Festus,  p.  178,  ed.  Muller.     Velleius,  i.  1,  3;  ii.  1,  2. 


152 


A>'CIENT    ROME. 


the  Capitoline  map  fails  to  correspond  with  the  actually 
existing  ruins.  The  antae  of  the  gateway  are  not  represented, 
and  the  comer  column  of  the  Temple  of  Juno  is  omitted. 
The  former  of  these  two  omissions  may  be  explained  by  sup- 
posing that  the  plan  was  probably  made  before  the  restoration 
of  the  portico  by  Severus. 

The  excavations  carried  on  in  1861  by  Pellegrini  and  Con- 


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Site  of  the  Porticus  Octavke,  as  indicated  by  the  Capitoline  Plan. 

tiglioizi,  established  the  following  limits  for  the  Portico  of 
Octavia. 

The  southern  comer  of  the  rectangle  was  occupied  by  a 
quadrifrontal  archway,  and  this  was  situated  near  No.  4  in 
the  Via  della  Catena  di  Pescaria.  From  this  the  south- 
western side  of  the  portico  ran  nearly  along  the  line  of  the 
street  till  it  reached  the  gateway  to  which  the  present  ruins 
belong,  near  the  oratory  of  S.  Angelo.  The  western  comer 
of  the  portico  was  also  formed  by  a  quadrifrontal  archway. 

The  north-western  side  passed  through  the  church  of  S. 
Ambrogio  a  little  below  the  high  altar,  and  then  skirted  the 


THE  VELABRUM  AND   THE  CIRCUS   FLAMINIUS. 


153 


Palazzo  Righetti  near  the  Piazza  di  S.  Caterina  de'  Funari, 
where  it  joined  the  north-eastern  and  shorter  side.  In  this 
side  there  was  a  pediment  with  pillars  corresponding  to  the 
gateway  at  the  opposite  end,  but  not  containing  the  real 
entrance,  which  stood  near  the  angle  of  the  Palazzo  Caraletti 
in  the  Via  de'  Delphini.  The  eastern  angle  was  near  the 
Palazzo  Capizucchi,  and  the  south-eastern  side  passed  close 
to  the  convent  of  monks  of  the  order  of  Madre  di  Dio,  at- 
tached to  the  church  of  S.  Maria  in  Portico  in  the  Piazza 
di  Campitelli. 

The  three  Composite  columns  of  marble,  which  still  stand 
in  the  house  in  the  Via  di  S.  Angelo  in  Pescaria,  belonged  to 
the  Temple  of  Juno,  and  stood  at  the  western  angle  of  that 
temple. 

The  remains  of  the  Temple  of  Jupiter  are  hidden  under 
the  church  of  S.  Maria  in  Portico,  and  the  street  which  is 
now  called  Via  della  Tribuna  dei  Campitelli  occupies  the  line 
of  the  interval  between  the  two  temples.  A  part  of  one  of 
the  side  walls  of  the  Temple  of  Jupiter  rises  a  little  above  the 
ground  at  the  corner  of  the  church  of  S.  Maria  in  Portico. 
The  school  or  academy  of  Augustus  was  behind  the  temples, 
and  stood  near  the  centre  of  the  Via  della  Tribuna  di  Campi- 
telli. The  back  of  this  formed  a  part  of  the  northern  side  of 
the  portico. 

The  interior  of  the  gateway  has  of  late  years  been  cleared 
of  some  of  the  buildings  which  have  blocked  it  up,  and  the 
whole  is  now  visible,  with  all  the  columns  except  one,  which 
has  been  taken  away  to  enlarge  the  church  door. 

A  most  interesting  relic  was  found  near  the  side  door  of 
the  church  of  S.  Angelo  in  Pescaria  in  April,  1878,  consisting 
of  a  pedestal  of  marble  engraved  with  the  title  of  Cornelia, 
the  mother  of  the  Gracchi.  This  was  evidently  the  pedestal 
of  the  sitting  statue  of  Cornelia  mentioned  by  Pliny  in  his 
"Natural  History"  as  having  been  placed  in  the  Portico  of 
Metellus.     The  statue  was  the  work  of  Tisicrates. 

Excavations  which  have  been  made  in  the  repair  of  houses 
and  for  other  objects  since  1873,  have  confirmed  the  con- 
clusions which  have  been  stated  as  to  the  position  of  the 
Portico  of  Octavia,  and  the  temples  near  it.  Some  of  the 
columns  of  the  north  side  of  the  portico  were  found  along 
the  row  of  houses  in  the  Via  di  Pescaria. 


154 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


The  basement  of  the  Temple  of  Apollo,  between  the  Theatre 
of  Marcellus  and  the  Portico  of  Octavia,  was  found  under  the 
Alberto  della  Catena. 

Crypta  and  Theatrum  Balbi. — In  the  Via  di  S.  Maria 
in  Cacaberis  were  two  Doric  columns  of  travertine  half  buried 
in  the  ground,  with  a  portion  of  entablature  above  them,  and 
between  them  an  ancient  brick  arch,  forming  the  entrance  to 
a  stable.  In  the  interior  of  the  stable  are  two  other  similar 
arches  and  columns,  and  above  these  there  are  indications  of 
an  upper  story.  Other  ruins  of  the  same  description  were 
built  into  the  next  house,  and  into  several  other  houses  near.  In 
the  sixteenth  century,  the  Bolognese  architect  SerHo  saw 
more  ruins  here,  and  he  represents  in  his  sketch  an  upper 
story  with  Corinthian  pillars.  The  name  Crypta  Balbi,  which 
is  found  in  the  catalogue  of  places  in  the  ninth  region,  has 
been  given  with  much  probability  to  these  ruins.  A  crypta,  or 
cryptoporticus,  according  to  Pliny,  was  a  covered  corridor 
with  windows,  which  could  be  shut  or  opened  at  pleasure. 
Such  a  building  was  used  for  exercise  in  wet  or  hot  weather. 
Some  were  open  on  one  side,  others  closed  on  both  sides.  A 
cryptoporticus  of  the  latter  kind  is  to  be  seen  in  the  ruins  of 
Nero's  Domus  Aurea  under  the  baths  of  Titus.  The  ruins  in 
the  Via  di  Cacaberis  appear  to  have  had  open  arches  at  the 
sides.  This  cryptoporticus  was  probably  attached  to  the 
Theatre  of  Balbus,  as  the  porticus  Pompeii  was  to  the 
Theatrum  Pompeii,  and  Venuti  thinks  that  it  extended  along 
the  back  of  the  scena,  and  that  it  was  intended  as  a  place  of 
shelter  for  the  spectators  in  case  of  the  sudden  showers  of 
rain  peculiar  to  the  Roman  climate.*  The  name  of  the  street 
Cacaberis,  or  Caccavari,  has  been  derived  from  crypticula. 
The  Mirabilia,  an  ancient  list  of  the  sights  in  Rome,  calls 
these  ruins  Tem})lum  Craticulse. 

Circus  Flaminius. — The  Circus  Flaminius,  named  from 
the  Flaminian  family  of  ancient  Rome,  lay  in  the  quarter 
traversed  by  the  Via  delle  Botteghe  Oscure,  and  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  Palazzo  Mattei.  The  Circus  was  destroyed 
before  the  ninth  centurv,  and  there  are  now  no  traces  of  it 
left  to  guide  us,  but  before  the  erection,  in  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, of  the  larger  houses  in  this  quarter,  some  few  ruins 


*  Vitruv.  v.  9. 


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THE  VELABRUM   AND   THE   CIRCUS   FLAMINIUS.        155 

appear  to  have  been  visible  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
Palazzo  Mattei.  These  are  described  by  Andrea  Fulvio  and 
Ligorio  as  having  belonged  to  the  Circus  Flaminius,  and 
according  to  their  account  the  length  of  the  Circus  lay  in  a 
direction  from  west  to  east,  and  reached  from  the  Palazzo 
Mattei,  where  the  semicircular  end  was  situated,  to  the  Piazza 
Margana  where  the  starting-point  lay.  A  tower,  now  called 
the  Torre  Citrangole,  was  once  called  the  Torre  Metangole, 
and  marked  the  spot  where  the  goal  of  the  Circus  stood. 

Theatre  of  Pompeius. — In  the  district  called  by  the 
name  Circus  Flaminius,  stand  the  ruins  of  a  vast  range  of 
buildings,  the  theatre,  porticus,  curia,  and  domus  Pompeii. 
That  these  ruins,  which  are  situated  at  the  back  of  the  church 
of  S.  Andrea  della  Valle,  and  are  plainly  those  of  a  theatre, 
belonged  to  the  Theatre  of  Pompey,  is  clear  if  the  proofs 
given  of  the  situation  of  the  other  two  theatres  in  ancient  Eome 
be  admitted  as  sufficient.  The  place  was  so  familiar  to  the 
Romans  that  we  hardly  ever  find  its  locality  indicated  even  in 
any  such  general  terms  as  in  campo  Martio  or  juxta  Tiberim, 
expressions  commonly  applied  to  other  buildings  of  less  note 
in  the  Campus  Martins. 

The  remains  which  are  now  left  of  these  celebrated  build- 
ings are  to  be  seen  in  the  small  piazza  of  S.  Maria  di  Grotta- 
pinta,  behind  the  church  of  S.  Andrea  della  Valle.  They 
consist  of  ranges  of  travertine  walls,  converging  to  a  centre, 
similar  to  those  still  visible  in  the  interior  of  the  Theatre  of 
Marcellus  and  in  the  Coliseum,  and  are  plainly  the  remains 
of  the  substructions  supporting  the  cavea  of  a  theatre. 
Further  remains  of  piers  and  converging  archways  of 
peperino  are  visible  in  the  cellars  of  the  adjoining  Palazzo 
Pio ;  and  during  some  excavations  made  in  1837,  a  part  of 
the  outer  walls  of  the  theatre  was  discovered,  with  Doric 
half  columns,  and  a  Doric  cornice.  Most  fortunately  the 
ground  plan,  not  only  of  the  theatre,  but  also  of  the  whole 
adjoining  portico,  is  given  upon  some  fragments  of  the  Capi- 

toline  map. 

The  first  idea  of  building  such  a  magnificent  theatre  seems 
to  have  been  suggested  to  Pompey  by  his  visit  to  the  theatre 
at  Mitylene,  whither  he  went  after  the  Mithridatic  war  to  be 
present  at  a  contest  of  rival  poets  held  in  his  honour.  Only 
one  attempt  had  before  been  made  to  build  a  permanent 


^i^i 


156 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


theatre  in  Kome.  The  Censor  C.  Cassius  Longinus  in  the 
year  B.C.  154  had  entered  into  a  contract  for  the  construction 
of  a  stone  theatre  near  the  Lupercal,  but  the  senate,  by  the 
advice  of  Scipio  Nasica,  a  rigid  Puritan  of  the  old  Roman 
school,  and  jealous  of  the  introduction  of  Greek  luxury, 
ordered  it  when  half  finished  to  be  demolished,  and  the 
materials  sold.  The  same  decree  inflicted  penalties  on  any- 
one who  should,  either  in  the  city  or  within  a  mile  of  its  walls, 
venture  to  place  any  seats  for  spectators  at  the  games,  or  sit 
down  while  looking  on  at  them.  Tacitus  states  that  even  in 
Pompey's  time  the  conservative  Romans  retained  the  same 
dread  lest  indolence  and  luxury  should  be  promoted  by  the 
construction  of  permanent  theatres.'  In  carrying  out  this 
grand  design  Pompey  was  assisted  by  his  freedman  Deme- 
trius, who  had  amassed  immense  riches  during  his  master's 
campaigns,  and  took  this  opportunity  of  paying  his  acknow- 
ledgments to  the  author  of  his  wealth.  The  capabilities  of  the 
theatre  must  have  been  very  great ;  nor  need  we  be  surprised 
to  hear  that  it  contained  40,000  seats,  for  the  remaining  frag- 
ments show  that  it  comprehended  the  whole  space  between 
the  Via  de'  Chiavari  which  corresponds  nearly  to  the  line  of 
the  scena,  the  Via  di  Giubbonari,  the  Campo  di  Fiore  and  the 
Via  del  Paradiso.  Eastwards  from  the  Via  de'  Chiavari 
stretched  the  long  ranges  of  colonnades  of  which  the  Capito- 
line  plan  gives  the  outline,  and  beyond  them  the  Curia  and  a 
temple,  with  a  variety  of  offices  and  shops,  as  far  as  the  Via  di 
Torre  Argentina,  including  the  modern  Teatro  Argentina 
within  their  compass.  In  this  theatre  Nero  gave  the  grand 
entertainment  to  Tiridates,  on  which  occasion  not  only  the 
scena  but  the  whole  interior  of  the  theatre  and  its  furniture 
was  covered  with  gilding,  and  a  purple  velarium  stretched 
over  it,  upon  which  Nero  himself  was  represented  driving  his 
chariot  in  the  character  of  the  Sun  God,  with  golden  stars 
glittering  around  him.  The  scena  was  burnt  in  the  great  fire 
in  A.D.  80,  but  restored  again  by  Vespasian.  Two  other  con- 
flagrations and  restorations  are  recorded  in  the  first  half  of 
the  third  century,  one  in  the  reign  of  Philippus  in  a.d.  249, 
and  a  second  in  that  of  Diocletian.^  An  inscription  was  found 
in  the  Via  de'  Chiavari  in  1551,  which  commemorates  the  re- 

*  Tac.  Ann.  xiv.  20. 

2  Hier.  Chron.  ed.  Roncalli,  i.  475 ;  ii.  247. 


' 


THE  VELABRUM   AND   THE  CIRCUS   FLAMINIUS.        157 

storatiou  of  one  of  the  colonnades  under  the  name  of  Jovius, 
a  title  which  Diocletian  often  assumed,  and  in  the  time  of 
Ammianus  Man^ellinus  the  theatre  could  still  be  reckoned 
among  the  Mirabilia  Urbis.'  Another  inscription  given  by 
the  anonymous  writer  of  the  Einsiedeln  MS.  records  a  re- 
building by  Arcadius  and  Honorius  about  a.d.  395.  At  the 
time  the  Notitia  was  compiled,  the  number  of  seats  had 
diminished  from  40,000,  as  given  by  Pliny,  to  27,580  or  even 
less,  and  the  theatre  was  therefore  probably  in  a  ruinous  state 
when  the  last-mentioned  restoration  took  place.  The  building 
naturally  suffered  much  in  the  Gothic  wars,  and  we  find  that 
it  was  again  restored  by  Symmachus  in  the  time  of  Theodoric, 
after  which  it  is  again  mentioned  under  the  right  name  of 
Theatrum  Pompeii  by  the  anonymous  writer  of  Einsiedeln  in 
the  ninth  and  by  the  Ordo  Romanus  in  the  twelfth  centuries  ; 
but  in  the  thirteenth  the  Orsini  family  had  occuxned  it,  and 
so  changed  the  building  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth 
century  it  is  called  in  the  Mirabilia,  Palatium  Pompeii.  The 
Florentine  Poggio  saw  the  ruins  of  the  outer  wall  still  stand- 
ing in  the  Campo  di  Fiore  in  the  fifteenth  century,  but  the 
name  of  Pompey  was  then  no  longer  connected  with  them, 
until  Marliani,  Fulvio,  and  Fauno,  the  topographers  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  revived  the  right  designation.  Canina,  in 
his  work  on  the  buildings  of  the  ancients,  has  taken  the 
greatest  pains  to  give  a  full  description  of  the  ruins  now  left, 
and  it  is  from  him  that  most  of  our  information  is  derived. 

Ponte  S.  Sisto.— The  bridge  now  called  Ponte  S.  Sisto, 
near  the  ruins  of  the  Theatre  of  Pompeius,  stands  on  the 
site  of  an  ancient  bridge,  which  was  most  probably  the  one 
named  Pons  Aurelius  in  the  Notitia.  There  is  no  conclusive 
proof  that  this  was  the  Pons  Aurelius,  but  the  situation  of 
none  of  the  other  bridges  seems  to  suit  this  name,  while  it 
is  peculiarly  applicable  to  the  bridge  in  question,  because  it 
was  the  principal  passage  over  the  Tiber  to  the  Porta  Aurelia 
and  the  Aureliau  road  along  the  coast  to  Civita  Vecchia. 

The  name  frequently  given  to  it  by  topographers,  Pons 
Janicularis,  appears  to  be  a  mere  invention,  as  it  is  not 
found  in  any  trustworthy  authority  ;  and  another  name.  Pons 
Antoninianus,  by  which  we  find  it  called  in  the  Middle  Ages, 

>  Grut.  Inscr.  cxi.  6.     Amm.  Marc.  xvi.  10. 


158 


ANCIENT   ROMK. 


seems  to  have  arisen  from  the  mistaken  name  Theatrum 
Antonini,  formeriy  given  to  the  Theatrum  Balbi,  which  is 
not  far  distant,  and  also  from  the  well-known  fondness  of 
Severus  and  Caracalla  for  the  trans-Tiberine  pleasure  grounds. 
Marliani  gives  an  inscription  which  is  said  to  have  existed 
formerly  upon  this  bridge  commemorating  its  restoration 
under  Hadrian  by  Messius  Rusticus,  the  Conservator  of  the 
Tiber.  The  bridge  must  therefore  have  been  originally 
built  before  Hadrian's  time,  and  cannot  be  a  work  of  the 
Antonines. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

PANTHEON,    COLUMN    OF     MARCUS     AURELIUS,   MAUSOLEUM    OP 
AUGUSTUS,  MAUSOLEUM  OF  HADRIAN,  AND  NEIGHBOURHOOD. 

The  Septa. — Near  the  Piazza  Venezia  and  S.  Marco,  to  the 
east  of  the  site  of  the  ancient  Circus  Flaminius,  stood  the 
Septa,  an  ancient  building  erected  for  the  purpose  of  holding 
the  Roman  comitia  or  elections.  Some  ruins  of  a  very  peculiar 
kind  are  situated  under  the  Palazzo  Doria  and  the  church  of 
S.  Maria  in  Via  Lata.  They  consist  of  ancient  piers  of 
travertine  stone,  about  39  inches  square,  standing  in  rows  at 
distances  of  5  or  6  yards,  and  evidently  belonging  to  the 
remains  of  a  portico.  There  are  three  rows  of  these,  each 
containing  eight  piers  under  the  Palazzo  Doria,  and  five  rows 
under  the  church  of  S.  Maria  in  Via  Lata,  containing  each 
five  piers.  It  is  plain  that  these  were  originally  faced  with 
marble,  as  the  exterior  surface  of  the  travertine  is  rough  hewn. 
The  situation  of  these  pillars  agrees  well  with  the  locality  in 
which  the  Septa  are  placed  by  classical  writers,  and  a  further 
proof  that  they  certainly  formed  a  part  of  that  building  is 
given  by  the  Capitoline  map,  upon  which  we  find  a  large 
tract  occupied  by  a  building  resting  upon  piers  arranged  in 
regular  rows  exactly  corresponding  to  the  piers  under  the 
church  of  S.  Maria  and  the  Palazzo  Doria.  Upon  these  frag- 
ments the  letters  s^ept  and  lia  are  legible,  which  appear  to 
belong  to  the  words  s^pta  julia. 

The  shape  of  the  building  is  very  peculiar.  It  must  have 
reached  along  the  side  of  the  Via  Lata  from  the  Piazza  di 
S.  Marco  to  the  church  of  S.  Maria  in  Via  Lata,  and  consisted 
of  a  long  cloister  suppoi-ted  by  parallel  rows  of  eight  marble 
piers.  This  cannot  have  been  the  arrangement  of  the  place 
in  the  Republican  or  early  Imperial  times,  for  a  design  less 


160 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


adapted  for  the  orderly  meeting  of  a  large  body  of  people 
can  hardly  be  conceived.  It  is  much  more  probable  that  m 
the  present  ruins  we  have  the  remains  of  Hadrian  s  bepta, 
built  when  the  original  purix>se  of  the  building,  the  reception 
and  division  of  the  centuries  when  they  voted,  had  become  an 

affair  of  the  past.  ,     ,  •  ^  4. 

The  desi^m  of  these  spacious  covered  cloisters  seems  to 
have  been  to  afford  a  sheltered  place  for  various  classes  of  the 
Roman  populace.  Even  in  Domitian's  time  the  Septa  had 
become  the  common  resort  of  slave  vendors,  dealers  in  tancy 
goods,  flaneurs  and  loungers,  and  the  new  arcades  were 
intended  possibly  for  the  express  accommodation  of  such  per- 
sons The  wide  court  in  which  the  great  assemblies  ot  the 
centuries  had  previously  been  held  was  partly  filled  up  by 
these  new  buildings,  and  partly  occupied  by  private  houses, 
as  the  Capitoline  plan  shows.  When  that  plan  was  prepared, 
in  tlie  time  of  Septimius  Severus,  the  old  Septa  had  entirely 
lost  their  form  and  original  use,  and  the  name  only  remained 
attached  to  the  spacious  colonnades  of  Hadrian. 

In  the  early  times  of  the  Republic  the  Septa  were  simply 
an  inclosed  place  on  the  Campus  Martins  partitioned  off  mto 
a  number  of  different  plots  by  means  of  ropes  or  slight 
railintrs,  in  each  of  which  one  division  of  voters  or  century 
assembled,  and  whence  the  presidents  passed  one  by  one  over 
the  pontes  to  deliver  the  vote  of  their  respective  century. 
Hence  arose  the  nickname  of  ovilia,  which  was  given  to  the 
8e])ta  on  account  of  their  similarity  to  a  sheepfold  Julius 
Cisar  first  entertained  the  idea  of  setting  up  marble  inclo- 
sures  for  the  comitia  centuriata,  and  surrounding  them  with 
a  magnificent  portico.  The  whole  formed  a  spacious  cloistered 
court,  decorated  with  works  of  art,  and  closely  connected  with 
the  Villa  Pubhca.  Caesar's  design  was  completed  after  his 
death  by  Agrippa  in  b.c.  27,  and  he  gave  the  building  the 
name  Septa  Julia.  A  rostrum  was  erected  in  it,  and  such  was 
the  extent  of  the  space  inclosed  that  gladiatorial  shows,  and 
sometimes  naumachise  were  held  there.  This  was  afterwards 
altered  bv  Hadrian  as  above  described. 

Temples  of  Isis  and  Serapis.— Westwards  from  the 
septa  and  nearly  upon  the  site  now  occupied  by  the  church  of 
S  Stefano  del  Cacco,  the  little  Via  di  pie  di  Marmo  and  a 
part  of  the  church  of  S.  Maria  sopra  Minerva,  stood  the 


TEMPLES   OF   ISIS   AND   SERAPIS. 


161 


temples  of  Isis,  Serapis,  and  Minerva  Chalcidica.'  The  names 
of  the  three  temples  are  given  in  the  catalogue  of  the  Curio- 
sum  in  the  ninth  region,  and  the  sites  of  the  two  first,  the 
Iseum  and  Serapeum,  have  been  sufficiently  traced  by  the 
numerous  Egyptian  antiquities  which  have  been  found*^  near 
the  church  of  S.  Maria  sopra  Minerva.  Of  these  the  most 
remarkable  are  the  two  obelisks,  one  of  which  now  stands  in 
the  Piazza  della  Rotonda  in  front  of  the  Pantheon,  and  the 
others  on  the  Piazza  della  Minerva.  The  latter  of  these  was 
found  between  the  church  of  S.  Ignazio  and  that  of  S.  Maria 
in  the  time  of  Alexander  VII.  in  1665,  and  the  former  had 
stood,  previously  to  its  erection  on  the  present  pedestal,  in  a 
little  piazza  near  this  place,  whence  it  was  removed  by 
Clement  XI.  The  antiquarian  Fea,  in  his  Miscellanea,  gives 
an  account  of  various  other  Egyptian  relics  found  on  the 
south-east  side  of  the  church  of  S.  Maria  sopra  Minerva, 
which  undoubtedly  belonged  to  the  Iseum  and  Serapeum." 

Among  these  was  a  statue  of  Isis  now  in  the  hall  of  the 
dying  gladiator  in  the  Capitol,  the  two  Egyptian  lions  now 
at  the  foot  of  the  steps  of  the  Capitol ;  the  famous  group  of 
the  Nile  now  in  the  Braccio  Nuovo  of  the  Vatican,  and  two 
fragments  of  an  altar  with  Egyptian  reliefs,  and  the  inscrip- 
tion isiDi  SACRUM.  Further  traces  of  the  same  Egyptian 
worship  were  found  by  Canina  in  the  year  1852,  of  which  he 
has  given  an  account  in  the  Annali  dell'  Institute  of  that 
year.  The  emperors  Commodus  and  Caracal  la  were  particu- 
larly given  to  the  worship  of  Egyptian  deities,  and  the 
emperor  Alexander  Severus  is  said  to  have  bestowed  addi- 
tional decorations  upon  those  temples. 

The  third  temple,  that  of  Minerva  Chalcidica,  which  was 
restored  by  Domitian,  together  with  the  Iseum  and  Serapeum 
after  the  fire  in  a.d.  80,  stood  nearer  to  the  Pantheon,  and 
probably  occupied  the  site  of  the  present  church  called  S.  Maria 
sopra  Minerva.  The  statue  of  Minerva,  formerly  in  the 
Giustiniani  Palace  and  now  placed  in  the  Braccio  Nuovo  of 
the  Vatican,  was  found  here.  Some  few  remains  of  pilasters 
which  are  built  into  the  foundations  of  the  houses  between 
the  Via  della  Minerva  and  the  Via  di  pie  di  Marmo  may 
have  belonged  to  this  temple. 

^  Juv.  Sat.  vi.  529.     Josepli.  I}.  J.  vii.  5,  4. 
-  Fea,  Misc.  Ixvi.  26  ;  cxxv.  17  ;  ccliv.  112. 

M 


162 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


Pantheon.— The  Pantheon  is  now  consecrated  as  a 
Christian  Church  under  the  name  of  S.  Maria  ad  Martyres 
or  della  Rotonda.  This  consecration,  together  with  the  con- 
crete structure  of  the  walls,  has  secured  the  building  against 
the  waste  of  time,  and  the  still  more  destructive  attacks  of  the 
barons  of  the  Middle  Ages,  who  destroyed  most  of  the  other 
great  edifices  of  imperial  Rome  by  either  making  them  their 
strongholds  or  pulling  them  down  for  building  materials.  The 
pronaos  rests  upon  sixteen  granite  columns,  with  marble 
Corinthian  bases  and  capitals.  It  was  formerly  approached 
by  six  steps,  but  two  only  are  now  above  the  level  of  the  sur- 
rounding gn)und.  The  architrave  and  frieze  are  plain,  and 
on  the  latter  stands  the  inscription,  whicli  formerly,  as  may 
be  seen  by  the  holes  for  nails,  was  formed  by  metallic  letters : 

M  .  AGRIPPA  .  L  .  F  .  cos  .  TERTIl'M  .  FECIT. 

Agrippa  was  consul  for  the  third  time  in  B.C.  27.  Another 
inscription  in  small  characters  stands  under  this  upon  the  two 
upper  ledges  of  the  architrave,  commemorating  the  restoration 
of  the  building  by  Severus  and  Caracalla.  The  i^ediment,  as 
may  be  seen  by  the  holes  of  the  metal  fastenings,  formerly 
contained  a  bronze  relief  representing  Jupiter  hurling  thunder- 
bolts upon  the  giants.  The  roof  of  the  pronaos  was  originally 
arched,  but  the  vaulting  has  been  replaced  by  strong  beams, 
and  on  the  outside  the  gilded  bronze  has  l)een  replaced  by 
lead.  In  the  interior  of  the  pronaos,  on  each  side  of  the 
entrance  are  two  huge  niches  which  formerly  contained  the 
statues  of  Augustus  and  Agrippa,  but  are  now  empty. 

The  pronaos  is  connected  with  the  rotunda  by  two  massive 
projections  of  masonry  ornamented  at  the  sides  with  marble 
pilasters  and  exquisitely  worked  reliefs  in  j^entelic  marble 
representing  candelabra  and  sacrificial  implements  entwined 
with  wreaths. 

The  doorway  is  of  magnificently  carved  marble  slabs,  and 
the  folding  doors,  moving  on  massive  hinges  fixed  in  two 
projecting  pilasters,  are  of  exquisitely  worked  bronze. 

The  rotunda  rests  on  a  rectangular  base,  similar  to  those 
which  support  the  cylindrical  part  of  the  mausoleum  of 
Hadrian  and  the  tomb  of  Csecilia  Metella.  In  the  parts  where 
the  thickness  of  the  wall  is  not  lessened  by  niches  in  the 
interior,  it  has  the  amazing  breadth  of  19  feet  of  solid  con- 


The  Pantheon. 
The  obelisk  in  the  foreground  was  found  near  the  site  of  the  Temples  of  Isis  and  Serapis. 


164 


ANCIENT    ROME. 


Crete.     In  addition  to  this  numerous  arches  of  brick  are  built 
into  the  wall.     Three  cornices  run  round  the  exterior  of  the 
rotunda  an<l  divide  it  into  three  rm^'s,  the  lowest  of  winch 
was  faced  with  marble,  and  the  two  upper  with  stucco.     The 
dome  sprini,'s  from  the  second  cornice,  and  consists  first  of  a 
rin<,'  of  concrete  7  feet  hi^'h,  and  then  of  six  concentric  rings, 
presenting,'  on  the  exterior  the  apj^earance  of  six  steps.     The 
top  is  fiat,  and  is  pierced  in  the  centre  with  a  large  round 
o]>enin<'  17  feet  in  diameter.     Kound  the  opening  is  a  ring  of 
ornamental  gilded  bronze,  which  is  the  only  part  of  the  old 
bronze  gilt  roof  now  remaining.    The  masonry  of  the  dome  is 
i)artlv  erf  pumice  stones,  chosen  for  this  purix)se  on  account  of 
their* lightness.     The  same  kind  of  stone  is  used  in  several 
other   buildings    in    Rome   where   lightness   combined   with 
moderate  strength  is  required.     The  exterior  of  the  dome  is 
flat  and  lieavv,  and  impressive  only  from  its  stern  and  massive 
soliditv.     Tlie  proportions  of  the  interior  are  altogether  diffe- 
rent, and  have  Ix-en  universally  admired  for  their  elegance, 
and  the  exquisitelv  simple  taste  with  which  they  are  decorated. 
The  lower  part  contains  eight  deep  niches,  alternately  semi- 
circular and  square,  in  one  of  which  the  entrance  doors  are 
placed,  while  the  others  were  tilled  with  statues  of  deities, 
now  replaced    bv  Romish  altars.     They  are  decorated  with 
pilasters,  and  two  Corinthian  columns  stand  in  front  of  each, 
supporting   the   entablature   which    runs    round    the   whole 
interior.    Between  the  eight  principal  niches  are  eight  smaller 
ones,  now  used  as  altars,  faced  with  sediculse  consisting  of  two 
small  columns  with  entablature  and  pediment.     The  two  ring 
cornices  in  the  interior  answer  in  position  to  the  lower  exterior 
cornices.     Above  the  upper  cornice  which  runs  quite  round 
the  building  there  were  originally  twelve  niches  surrounded 
with  elegant  marbles  and  stucco  work.    These  were  altered  in 
1747,  and  their  effect  injured  by  the  introduction  of  heavy 
pediments,  and  by  the  removal  of  the  marbles  and  stucco 
work.     The  interior  of  the  roof  is  relieved  by  well-designed 
rectangular  coffer  work,  decreasing  in  size  towards  the  ai)ex  of 
the  dome  so  as  to  give  the  impression  of  height  and  space. 
The  floor  is  laid  with  slabs  of  Phrygian  and  Numidian  marble, 
porphyrv,  and  grev  granite,  in  alternate  squares  and  circles, 
set  in  reticulated 'work.     In  the  centre  it  has  a  depression 
pierced  with  small  holes  to  carry  off  the  rain  water  from  the 


THE   PANTHEON. 


165 


aperture  above.  This  drain  probably  communicated  with  the 
great  cloaca  built  by  Agrippa  to  drain  the  Camions  Martins. 
The  proportions  of  the  interior  of  the  dome  are  admirably 
adjusted,  so  that  no  part  of  the  building  has  an  undue 
prominence,  contrasting  favourably  in  this  respect  with  S. 
Peter's,  where  the  immense  size  of  the  piers  on  which  the 
dome  is  supported  dwarf  the  upper  part  too  much.  The 
Pantheon  will  always  be  reckoned  among  the  masterpieces  of 
architecture  for  solid  durability  combined  with  beauty  of 
interior  effect. 

The  Romans  prided  themselves  greatly  upon  it  as  one  of  the 
wonders  of  their  great  caj)ital,  and  no  other  dome  of  antiquity 
could  rival  its  colossal  dimensions.^  The  height  from  the 
pavement  to  the  crown  of  the  dome  is  143  feet,  half  of  which 
is  occupied  by  the  cylindrical  wall  and  half  by  the  dome ;  this 
height  is  insignific^ant  when  compared  with  S.  Peter's,  the 
dome  of  which  is  405  feet  from  the  pavement  to  the  base  of 
the  lantern,  and  the  exterior  appearance  of  St.  Peter's  is  far 
finer,  but  the  diameter  of  the  Pantheon  is  the  greater,  and  the 
proportions  of  the  interior  more  harmonious. 

Some  doubt  has  arisen  as  to  the  date  of  the  building  of 
the  dome  of  the  Pantheon.  A  young  French  architect, 
M.  Cliedanne,  has  found  bricks  in  what  aj)23ears  to  be  part 
of  the  original  structure  bearing  stamps  of  about  the  time 
of  Hadrian.  As  tiles  and  bricks  with  stamps  of  any  kind 
were  probably  unknown  in  Rome  in  the  time  of  Agrippa, 
it  would  seem,  from  this  discovery,  that  the  date  of  the 
building  where  the  bricks  were  found,  w^as  about  a.d.  116. 
Assuming  that  the  bricks  now  found  by  Chedanne  are  jmrt 
of  the  building  of  Hadrian,  the  suj^position  of  the  Roman 
magazine  "  Anthologia  "  seems  likely,  which  is,  that  we  may 
on  the  evidence  suppose  Agrippa  to  have  built  a  quadrilateral 
temple,  and  that  it  was  altered  by  Hadrian  into  a  rotunda. 

For  it  must  be  noticed  that  neither  Pliny  nor  Dion  Cassius 
call  what  they  attribute  to  Agrippa  a  rotunda,  but  simply 
Pantheon,  which  may  mean  a  temple. 

The  inscription  on  the  portico  assigns  it  to  the  year  B.C.  27, 
the  third  consulship  of  Agrippa.  For  a  long  time  the  mis- 
taken notion  prevailed  that  the  building  was  dedicated  to 

^  Amni.  Marc.  xvi.  10.     Seneca,  de  Ben.  iii.  32. 


166 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


Jupiter  TJltor,  a  misapprehension  arising  from  a  corrupt 
reading  in  a  passage  of  Plmy,  where  the  words  Jovis  Ultoris 
had  been  inserte<l  instead  of  diribitori.  The  original  name, 
Pantheon,  taken  in  connection  with  the  numerous  niches  for 
statues  of  the  gods  in  the  interior,  seems  to  contradict  the  idea 
that  it  was  dedicated  to  any  peculiar  deity  or  class  of  deities. 
The  seven  principal  niches  may  have  been  intended  for  the 
seven  superior  deities,  and  the  eight  aediculae  for  the  next  in 
dignity,  while  the  twelve  niches  in  the  upi>er  ring  were  occu- 
pied by  the  inferior  inhabitants  of  Olympus.  Dion  hints  at 
this  explanation  when  he  suggests  that  the  name  was  taken 
from  the  resemblance  of  the  dome  to  the  vault  of  heaven.' 

The  bronze  gilt  statuary,  the  work  of  Diogenes  of  Athens, 
with  which  the  temple  was  decorated,  was  much  admired  by 
the  Roman  connoisseurs,  and  in  particular  the  group  upon  the 
pediment  and  the  Caryatides.  The  statue  of  Venus  was 
adorned  with  the  two  divided  halves  of  the  famous  pearl  of 
Cleopatra,  fellow  to  the  one  which  Cleopatra  is  said  to  have 
dissolved  in  vinegar  in  order  to  win  her  wager  that  she  could 
spend  ten  million  sesterces  in  one  dinner. 

In  the  fire  of  a.d.  80  the  Pantheon  suffered  with  the  rest  of 
the  buildings  in  this  part  of  the  Campus  Martins,  but  from 
the  solidity  of  its  construction  the  injury  done  was  not  great, 
and  was  repaired  soon  afterwards  by  Domitian.  It  was  damaged 
by  lightning  in  the  reign  of  Trajan,  but  restored  or  reconstructed 
by  Hadrian,  who  used  it  frequently  as  a  court  of  justice. 

A  hundred  years  after  this,  the  restoration  by  Septimius 
Severus,  recorded  in  the  extant  inscription,  took  place  a.d. 
195.  Honorius  closed  this  temple,  with  the  other  temples  of 
Rome,  in  a.d.  399,  but  it  was  not  consecrated  as  a  Christian 
church  until  two  hundred  years  afterwards,  when  Boniface  IV. 
dedicated  it  to  All  Saints  in  allusion  to  the  pauan  name  of 
Pantheon,  giving  the  name  of  S.  Maria  ad  Martyres.  Two 
acts  of  plunder  perpetrated  upon  the  building  deserve  mention. 
In  the  middle  of  the  seventh  century,  a.d.  650,  Constans  II. 
took  off  the  gilded  bronze  tiles  of  the  roof,  and  was  carrying 
them  to  Constantinople,  with  the  plunder  of  the  Forum  of 
Trajan,  when  he  was  intercepted  at  Syracuse  by  the  Saracens 
and  killed.     His  act  of  plunder  was  imitated  by  Urban  VIII.^ 

^  Dion  Cass.  Hii.  27. 


^•?^'l 


THE   DOGANA. 


167 


who  in  1632  took  away  the  bronze  girders  which  supported 
the  roof  of  the  pronaos  and  had  them  melted  down  and  used 
partly  for  the  pillars  of  the  baldachino  in  S.  Peter's,  and 
partly  for  the  cannon  of  the  castle  of  S.  Angelo. 

Aqua  Virgo. — Not  far  from  the  Pantheon  the  arches  of  the 
Aqua  Virgo  projected  from  the  side  of  the  Pincian  Hill  and 
crossed  the  Via  Lata.  Some  remains  of  these  arches  are  still 
to  be  seen  in  the  Via  del  Nazareno  at  the  back  of  the  Fountain 
of  Trevi.  They  bear  an  inscription  which  was  copied  in  the 
ninth  century  by  the  anonymous  chronicler  of  Einsiedeln, 
recording  the  restoration  of  the  arches  by  Claudius  after  they 
had  been  partially  destroyed  by  Caligula,  who  intended  to 
build  an  amphitheatre  in  this  neighbourhood.  The  arches 
are  now  entirely  covered  with  rubbish,  and  the  conduit  of 
the  aqueduct  itself,  which  formerly  was  raised  upon  them,  is 
consequently  now  upon  the  level  of  the  ground.  The  inscrip- 
tion stands  on  the  side  of  the  conduit,  and  was  formerly  at 
the  spot  where  some  principal  street  passed  under  the  aque- 
duct. Above  it  is  a  simple  cornice,  and  below,  an  architrave, 
with  the  uj)per  part  of  some  Doric  pilasters,  appears  above  the 
surface  of  the  water,  which  is  here  tapped  to  afford  a  washing 
trough  to  the  laundresses  of  the  neighbourhood.  The  masonry 
is  of  solid  travertine  blocks,  carefully  cut  and  fitted. 

Dogana  in  the  Piazza  di  Pietra. — Some  topographers 
have  identified  the  ruin  in  the  Piazza  di  Pietra,  now  the 
Dogana,  with  the  Posidonium,  a  portico  built  by  Agrippa  in 
memory  of  his  naval  exploits  ;  but  unless  the  ruin  in  the 
Piazza  di  Pietra  be  a  later  restoration  after  the  fire  of  a.d. 
80,  which  is  possible  enough,  the  style  is  not  such  as  to  allow 
us  to  assign  it  to  the  Augustan  age.  It  has  eleven  fluted 
Corinthian  marble  columns  supporting  a  tolerably  well- 
preserved  entablature,  and  plainly  belonging  to  the  longer 
side  of  a  basilica  or  temple.  The  architrave,  frieze,  and 
cornice,  have  a  heavy  and  unimpressive  appearance,  though 
some  of  the  details  of  the  work  are  rich  and  carefully  executed. 
In  the  courtyard  of  the  building  a  portion  of  the  wall  of  the 
cella,  and  the  spring  of  the  arches  of  the  vaulted  roof,  can  be 
seen  now  incorporated  into  the  modem  building. 

Gnomon  Obelisk. — North  of  the  Piazza  Capranica,  in 
the  open  space  called  the  Piazza  di  Monte  Citorio,  is  a  large 
obelisk  of  red  syenite.    This  is  the  Gnomon  Obelisk,  of  which 


I 


168 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


Pliny  gives  an  interesting  account  in  his  **  Natural  History.'* 
It  was  brought  by  Augustus  from  Egypt,  with  that  which  is 
now  in  the  Piazza  del  Popolo,  and  was  erected  on  the  Campus 
Martins  under  the  directions  of  the  mathematician  Facundus 
Novus  to  serve  as  a  sun-dial,  by  which  not  only  the  hour  of 
the  day,  but  also  the  day  of  the  month,  might  be  shown.  For 
this  purpose  the  jmvement  of  the  piazza  in  which  it  stood  was 
marked  out  with  a  complicated  system  of  lines  in  bronze  ;  and, 
to  prevent  any  disturbances  caused  by  the  settlement  of  the 
foundations,  they  were  laid  as  deep  below  the  ground  as  the 
height  of  the  ol)elisk  itself.  Pliny  remarks  that  when  he 
wrote,  the  gnomon  had  ceased  for  thirty  years  to  mark  the 
time  rightly,  and  he  ascribes  this  inaccuracy  to  some  displace- 
ment of  the  obelisk  due  to  natural  causes,  such  as  earthquakes 
or  inundations.^  It  is  more  probable  that  the  inaccuracy  of 
the  Julian  calendar  gradually  produced  the  change.  Ammiauus 
Marcellinus,  the  Notitia,  and  the  anonymous  writer  of  the 
Einsiedeln  MS.,  all  mention  this  obelisk  as  still  standing  on 
the  place  where  Augustus  placed  it.  It  was  then—  after  the 
ninth  century — lost  for  a  time,  but  discovered  again  in  1463 
with  part  of  the  figures  of  the  dial.  Marliani,  in  the  first  half 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  mentions  a  part  of  the  obelisk  as 
lying  neglected  in  a  cellar  near  S.  Lorenzo  in  Lucina,  and  it 
was  not  erected  upon  the  present  site  until  1792. 

To  the  east  and  north  of  the  Monte  Citorio  lay  the  great 
buildings  of  the  Antonine  era,  of  which  we  still  have  some 
remains  in  the  base  of  the  Pillar  of  Antoninus  Pius,  now  in 
the  Giardino  della  Pigna  of  the  Vatican,  the  magnificent 
Pillar  of  M.  Aurelius  in  the  Piazza  Colonna,  and  the  remains 
of  the  arch  of  the  latter  emperor,  now  in  the  Palace  of  the 
Conservators  on  the  Capitol. 

Pillar  of  Antoninus  Pius.— The  first  of  these,  the  Pillar 
of  Antoninus  Pius,  was  a  monolith  of  red  syenite,  resting 
upon  a  pedestal  of  the  same  stone  ornamented  with  reliefs. 
These  remained  upon  their  original  site  in  the  garden  of  the 
Casa  della  Missione  near  the  Monte  Citorio,  until  the  time  of 
Benedict  XIV.,  when  the  pedestal  was  removed  and  placed  in 
the  Piazza  di  Monte  Citorio  near  the  Gnomon  Obelisk,  but 
the  monolith  was  found  to  be  so  damaged,  as  not  to  be  worth 

'  Plin.N.  H.  xxxvi.  9,71,72. 


COLUMN   OF   M.   AURELIUS. 


169 


. 


the  expense  of  re-erection.  Pius  VI..  when  he  placed  the 
Gnomon  Obelisk  in  the  Piazza  di  Monte  Citorio,  removed  the 
pedestal  and  took  it  to  the  Vatican  Gardens,  and  it  was  finally 
placed  in  the  Giardino  della  Pigna  by  Gregory  XVI.,  who 
caused  it  to  be  carefully  restored. 

Column  of  M.  Aurelius.— The  second  of  the  great 
Antonine  monuments,  the  Column  of  M.  Aurelius,  still  stands 
upon  its  original  site  in  the  Piazza  Colonna.  Formerly  it  was 
the  centre  point  of  a  group  of  massive  temples  and  colossal 
halls,  which  have  entirely  perished.  It  is  now  surrounded  by 
houses  of  modem  construction,  and  surmounted  by  a  statue  of 
S.  Paul,  and  looks  like  a  grey  veteran  clothed  in  the  dress  of 
a  later  generation,  in  which  he  feels  self-conscious  and  ill 
at  ease.  The  only  remains  of  the  colonnades,  which  once 
inclosed  the  court  in  which  it  stood,  are  to  be  found  on  the 
east  side  of  the  piazza  in  the  palace  of  the  Prince  of  Piombino. 
They  consist  of  a  triple  portico  of  brickwork,  proliably  faced 
in  ancient  times  with  marble.  The  temple  of  M.  Aurelius, 
which  stood,  like  that  of  Trajan,  in  front  of  the  column,  was 
probably  upon  the  western  side  towards  the  Piazza  di  Monte 
Citorio,  and  it  is  from  the  ruins  of  this  temple,  and  not  of  the 
Amphitheatre  of  Statilius,  as  commonly  suj^posed,  that  the 
mound  of  ruins  called  Monte  Citorio  may  have  been  formed. 
But  no  traces  of  the  substructions  or  of  the  walls  or  columns 
have  been  found.' 

The  column  itself,  which  is  a  close  imitation  of  that  of 
Trajan,  stands  upon  a  pedestal  which  was  so  altered  by 
Fontana  from  its  original  shape  as  to  present  a  totally  different 
appearance.  The  ancient  pedestal  was  much  less  massive 
and  better  proportioned  to  the  upper  part  of  the  monument. 
Its  base  stood  at  a  level  thirteen  feet  lower  than  the  present 
pavement  of  the  square,  and  it  consisted  of  a  basement  of 
solid  stonework  about  sixteen  feet  in  height  resting  on  three 
steps,  nearly  the  whole  of  which  is  now  under  the  level  of  the 
surrounding  ground.  On  the  east  side  was  the  door  by  which 
the  spiral  staircase  in  the  interior  was  reached.  Upon  the 
basement  stood  a  large  square  flat  stone,  ornamented  with 
genii  and  triumphal  and  military  ensigns,  and  above  this  the 
pedestal  upon  w  hich,  before  the  restorations  by  Fontana,  only 

»  Annali  dell'  Inst.  1852,  p.  338. 


^^^A 


170 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


the  words  consecratio  and  d.  antonini.  aug  ph.  were 
legible  The  original  shape  and  inscription  of  this  lower  part 
are  only  known  to  us  from  old  prints  and  antiquarian  notes 
in  Gamucci,  Du  Perac,  and  Piranesi's  works.  It  became 
necessary  for  the  safety  of  the  pillar,  in  1589  to  restore  the 
base  and  the  whole  was  eased  in  marble  and  repaired  by 
Fontana,  under  the  orders  of  Sixtus  V.,  who  at  the  same  time 
placed  the  statue  of  S.  Paul  upon  the  top.  From  a  want  of 
accurate  historical  information,  howeyer,  the  old  inscription 
was  supposed  to  refer  to  the  elder  of  the  Antonines  Antoninus 
Pius  and  the  new  inscription  accordingly  speaks  ot  the  monu- 
ment  as  dedicated  to  him.  The  error  was  discovered  by  a 
narrower  inspection  of  the  reliefs  upon  the  shaft,  which  clearly 
relate  to  the  exploits  of  M.  Aurelius. 

The  plinth  is  quite  simple,  and  the  base  of  the  shatt  is 
formed,  like  the  Column  of  Trajan,  in  the  shape  of  a  laurel 
crown  The  whole  of  the  shaft  is  occupied  by  a  spiral  series 
of  reliefs,  and  only  a  small  ring  of  fluted  mouldings  separates 
them  from  the  capital,  which  is  of  the  Komano-poric  order 
The  whole  pillar  measures  122  feet  in  height,  being  two  ieet 
lower  than  that  of  Trajan.  The  shafts  of  the  two  are 
exactly  of  the  same  height  (100  Roman  feet)  and  are 
formed  in  the  same  way  of  solid  cylinders  of  marble,  in  the 
centre  of  which  the  spiral  staircase  which  leads  to  the  top  is 

hewn  ^ 

The  great  winding  wreath  of  bas-reliefs  which  twines  round 
the  column  contains  scenes  from  the  history  of  the  German 
wars  in  the  years  from  a.d.  167-179,  in  which  a  number  of 
the  tribes  north  of  the  Danube,  the  Marcomanni,  Quadi, 
Sueyi,  Hermonduri,  Jazyges,  Vandali,  Sarmati,  Alani,  and 
Roxolani,  with  many  others,  took  part.  The  representations 
begin  with  an  army  on  the  march  crossing  a  river  (the 
Danube)  ;  then  follJw,  as  on  the  Pillar  of  Trajan,  scenes  m 
which  the  general  harangues  his  troops,  the  enemy's  encamp- 
ments are  seen,  and  a  great  victory  is  won,  accompanied  with 
the  usual  thank- ofeerings. 

But  the  most  remarkable  part  of  the  whole  relief  is  a  scene 
which  plainly  corresponds  to  the  account  given  by  Dion 
Cassius  of  the  sudden,  and,  as  it  seemed,  supernatural  reliet 
afforded  by  a  thunderstorm  to  the  Roman  army  when  hard 
pressed  by  the  Quadi,  who  had  surrounded  them  and  succeeded 


^^s:- 


COLUMN   OF  M.   AURELIUS. 


171 


in  preventing  all  their  efforts  to  escape.  "  The  Roman  army,** 
says  Dion,  "  were  in  the  greatest  distress  from  fatigue,  many 
of  them  were  wounded,  and  they  were  hemmed  in  by  the 
enemy,  without  water,  under  a  burning  sun.  They  could 
neither  fight  nor  retreat,  and  would  have  been  compelled  to 
stand  in  their  ranks  and  die  under  the  scorching  heat,  had 
not  some  thick  clouds  suddenly  gathered,  and  a  heavy  rain 
fallen,  which  refreshed  them,  and  afford  them  drink.  This 
did  not  happen  without  the  intervention  of  the  gods  (ovk  dBtei), 
for  it  was  said  that  one  Arnuphis,  an  Egyptian  magician,  was 
with  Marcus  Aurelius,  and  that  he,  by  invoking  the  aid  of 
Hermes,  the  god  of  the  air,  and  some  other  deities  by  means 
of  incantations,  drew  down  the  rain."  Xiphilinus,  however, 
from  whose  abridgment  of  Dion  we  have  the  above  account, 
declares  that  '*  Dion  has  purposely  falsified  the  circumstances, 
for  he  must  have  known  that  the  '  legio  f ulrainata '  obtained 
its  name  from  this  incident,  the  true  history  of  which  was  as 
follows.  There  was  a  legion  in  the  army  of  Marcus  Aurelius, 
consisting  entirely  of  Christians.  The  emperor  being  told 
that  their  prayers  in  such  an  emergency  never  remained  un- 
answered, requested  them  to  pray  for  help  to  their  God. 
When  they  had  prayed,  God  immediately  smote  the  enemy 
with  lightning,  but  refreshed  the  Roman  army  by  a  copious 
rain,  upon  which  Marcus  published  a  decree,  in  which  he 
complimented  the  Christian  legion  and  bestowed  the  name 
fulminate  upon  it."  History,  however,  does  not  bear  out  this 
wonderful  tale  of  Xiphilinus,  for  the  name  fulminate  is 
known,  from  inscriptions,  to  have  been  given  to  the  twelfth 
legion  as  early  as  the  reign  of  Augustus.^ 

Upon  the  pillar  the  scene  is  represented  by  the  figure  of 
Jupiter  Pluvius  dripping  with  rain,  which  the  soldiers  are 
eagerly  catching  in  their  shields. 

The  drought  is  followed  by  an  inundation,  in  which  many 
of  the  Germans  are  drowned.  A  grand  battle  takes  place, 
followed  by  the  burning  of  the  enemy's  huts  and  the  seizure 
of  numerous  captives. 

The  figure  of  Marcus  Aurelius  on  horseback,  accompanying 
a  long  train  of  spoil  taken  from  the  German  tribes,  and  a 
long  series  of  battles,  conflagrations  of  villages  and  towns, 

1  Dion  Cass.  Iv.  23.     Orelli,  Inscr.  517,  5447. 


H 


172 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


conferences  with  the  enemy's  generals  follow,  and  the  first 
campaign   ends   at  a   point   near  the  centre  of  the  column 
with  a  procession  of  trophies  and  spoils  of  war,  in  the  midst 
of  which  a  figure   of   Victory   inscribes   the  triumph  on  a 

Over  this  figure  of  Victory  begins  the  history  of  the  second 
campaign,  in  which  four  battles  are  represented,  and  various 
militarv  scenes,  as  the  crossing  of  the  Danube  in  boats,  the 
thanksgiving  sacrifices  after  victory,  the  emperor  addressing 
his  army,  captures  of  women  and  children,  and  finally  a  long 
train  of  captives  and  spoils  led  off  in  triumph.  This  great 
marble  history  is  after  the  model  of  that  on  Trajan's  Column. 
The  style  of  execution  is,  however,  somewliat  different :  the 
figures  stand  out  much  more  from  the  surface,  are  more 
roughly  cut,  and  have  a  heavier  and  stiffer  look,  resembling 
that  of  the  reliefs  upon  the  Arch  of  Severus,  and  the  base  of 
the  Pillar  of  Antoninus  Pius. 

The  column  is  called  in  all  ancient  writings  Columna 
Antonini,  which  mav  apply  to  either  of  the  Antonines.  But 
it  is  perfectlv  evidient  from  spiral  reliefs,  representing  the 
frequent  crossings  of  the  Danube,  and  especially  from  that 
recording  the  incident  of  the  sudden  storm  which  extricated 
the  Roman  armv  from  their  difficulties,  that  the  German  wars 
of  Marcus  Aurelius  are  the  subject  commemorated. 

Aurelius  Victor  and  Julius  Capitolinus  state  that  temples, 
columns  and  priesthoods,  were  dedicated  to  this  emperor  after 
his  death,  and  some  inscriptions  discovered  in  1777  in  the 
Piazza  Colonna  establish  the  conclusion  that  this  pillar  was 
erected  in  his  honour  Ijevond  doubt.  These  inscriptions,  now 
in  the  Gallery  of  Inscriptions  in  the  Vatican,  contain  a  petition 
from  Adrastus,  a  f reedman  of  Septimius  Severus,  and  custodian 
of  the  Pillar  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  addressed  to  the  Emperor 
Severus  requesting  leave  to  have  the  miserable  hut  (cannal>a) 
in  which  he  lived  changed  into  a  habitable  house  (solarium) 
for  himself  and  his  heirs,  and  also  the  decree  of  the  emperor, 
giving  the  permission  and  assigning  materials  and  a  site. 
The  petition  was  presented  immediately  on  the  accession  ot 
Severus,  and  the  decree  is  dated  in  the  consulship  of  Falco 
and  Clarus,  a.d.  193,  two  months  after  the  emperor  had 
taken  possession  of  the  palace.  In  this  inscription  the  pillar 
is  called  the  Columna  Centenaria,  and  exact  measurements  ot 


MAUSOLEUM   OF   AUGUSTUS. 


173 


the  shaft  have  shown  that  it  is  just  one  hundred  Roman  feet 
in  height,  including  the  base  and  capital.^ 

The  bronze  statue  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  which  stood  on  the 
summit,  was  probably  carried  off  by  the  Byzantine  emperor, 
Constans  II.,  to  Syracuse,  and  was  there  taken  by  the  Saracens 
from  him,  and  conveyed  to  Alexandria  with  the  rest  of  the 
plunder  he  had  stripped  from  the  buildings  of  Rome.  To 
distinguish  this  column  from  the  above-mentioned  Pillar  of 
Antoninus  Pius,  it  is  called  in  some  of  the  legal  documents  of 
the  tenth  century  "  Columpna  major  Antonina."  As  recorded 
in  the  inscription  on  the  modem  base,  it  was  much  injured 
by  lightning  in  the  fourteenth  century,  and  restored  by 
Sixtus  V. 

Piazza  Navona. — The  Piazza  Navona  was  formerly  a 
stadium,  not  a  circus.  The  strongest  evidence  we  have  in 
favour  of  this  rests  on  the  shape  of  the  piazza  and  of  the  ruins. 
One  of  the  essential  parts  of  a  circus,  the  spina,  is  entirely 
wantiuij,  and  the  end  from  which  the  runners  started  is  at 
right  angles  to  the  longer  sides,  while  in  a  circus,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  Circus  of  Maxentius,  the  carceres  always  stood  in 
a  slanting  direction  across  the  course,  in  order  to  equalize  the 
distances  round  the  spina. 

The  obelisk,  which  now  stands  in  the  centre  of  the  piazza 
was  broutfht  bv  Innocent  X.  from  the  Circus  of  Maxentius  on 
the  Appian  Road.  The  Circus  of  Maxentius  was  not,  how- 
ever, its  original  site,  for  the  hieroglyphics  are  of  Roman 
execution  and  contain  the  name  of  Domitian. 

Mausoleum  of  Augustus. — The  northern  part  of  the 
Campus  Martins,  between  the  Via  del  Ripetta  and  the  Pincian 
Hill,  contained  only  one  great  building  of  which  we  have  any 
knowledge.  This  was  the  Mausoleum  of  Augustus,  the  ruins 
of  which  are  now  buried  under  the  Teatro  Correa,  and  are 
approached  by  a  narrow  entry  leading  out  of  the  Via  dei 
Pontefici.  All  that  can  now  be  seen  of  the  shapeless  mass 
which  this  once  stately  building  presents,  is  a  small  part  of 
the  cylindrical  brickwork  basement  on  the  left  of  the  entrance 
to  the  Teatro  Correa,  and  another  fragment  of  the  same  at 
back  of  the  Church  of  S.  Rocco.  The  proofs  that  these  are 
the  remains  of  the  Mausoleum  of  Augustus  are  quite  indis- 

^  Gruter,  Inscr.  466. 


174 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


Dutable  Suetonius  places  it  between  the  Tiber  and  the 
C\n  Koad,  and'sfubo  speaks  of  it  as  standjng  near  the 
bank  of  the  river,  descriptions  which,  though  they  are  not 
^ry  definHe.  agre^  with  tL  site  of  the  Teatr-C-ea  effi- 
ciently. Complete  certainty  is,  however,  .f«off/'  7  *^^ 
inscriptions  which  have  been  found  ou  the  site  of  the  Ustrina 
C^sarum.  where  the  bodies  were  burnt  before  ^"^^^l^  Th«^ 
were  found  near  the  Corso,  between  the  Via  ^^^'^  Otto  Cantom 
and  the  Via  dei  Pontifici,  a  spot  answering  to  Strabos  notice 
of  the  site  of  the  Ustrina  as  standing  in  the  middle  of  the 
Campus,  which  is  here  narrowed  by  the  approach  of  the  l^in- 

cian  Hill  towards  the  river.  ,   .    ,  •     •*!,„..„ 

Augustus  had  built  this  magnificent  tomb  >"  his  sixth  con- 
sulthfp  (B.C.  28).  At  that  time  the  course  of  the  Flaminian 
Soad  through  the  Campus  was  lined  with  the  tombs  of  many 
eminent  Roman  statesmen  and  public  characters,  v^liKJi  hjive 
aU,  w'?h  the  exception  of  the  insignificant  Tomb  »£  Bibulu 
totally  disapi>eared.  The  modem  city  has  entirely  eflaced  all 
i^Jot  thUe,  but  we  may  in  all  probability  «"Pl>ose  that  the 
Flaminian  road  presented  no  less  striking  a  spectacle  in  the 

to  regard  as  the  great  burying-place  of  Rome. 

The  name  mausoleum  was  apparently  given  to  this  tomb  it 
not  immediatelv,  yet  soon  after  its  completion,  not  from  any  re- 
semZce  in  the  plan  of  the  building  to  the  famous  monument 
rHaUcarnassus!  which  differed  entirely  in  shape  and  des^^ 
hilt  because  the  expression  mausoleum  had  already  become 
a  Lme  used  to  designate  any  tomb  of  colossal  pPortK-ns^ 
The  Mausoleum  of  Halicamassus  was  a  rectangular  building 
surrounded  with  a  colonnade,  while  the  Tomb  of  Augustus 
waTcvlfndrical  and  ornamented  with  deep  niches      S  i^bo 
rives  the  following  description  of  the  latter  monument       The 
Sost  remarkable  of  all  the  tombs  in  the  Campus  is   that 
Called  treMausoleum.  which  consists  of  a  huge  mound  of 
earth  raised  upon  a  lofty  base  of  white  marble  near  the  nver 
bank  rJplanted  to  the  summit  with  evergreen  trees     Upon 
the  top  i«  a  bronze  statue  of  C«sar  Augustus   and  under 
the  mind  are  the  burial-places  of  Augustus  and  l"s  fouiily 
and  friends,  while  behind  it  is  a  spacious  ^f  «°nUm.n^ 
admirably  designed  walks.     In  the  middle  of  the  Campus  is 
tSlosure  he  made  for  burning  the  corpses,  also  of  whit« 


MAUSOLEUM   OF  AUGUSTUS. 


175 


marble,  surrounded  by  an  iron  railing,  and  planted  with 
poplar-trees."  ^ 

The  mound  of  earth  here  described  by  Strabo  was  probably 
of  a  conical  shape,  and  the  trees  were  planted  on  terraced 
ledges.  The  mass  of  the  building  was  cylindrical,  like  the 
central  portions  of  Hadrian's  Mausoleum,  and  of  the  tombs  of 
Plautius  and  Caecilia  Metella,  and  was  supported  upon  a 
square  basement  which  is  now  entirely  buried  beneath  the 
level  of  the  ground.  The  exterior  of  the  cylindrical  part  was 
relieved  by  large  niches  which  doubtless  contained  statues,  and 
broke  the  otherwise  heavy  uniformity  of  the  surface.  At  the 
entrance  were  the  bronze  pillars  which  Augustus  had  ordered 
to  be  erected  after  his  death,  on  which  was  engraved  a 
catalogue  of  the  acts  of  his  reign.  We  now  possess  a  frag- 
ment of  a  copy  of  this  interesting  document  in  the  famous 
Monumentum  Ancvranum,  found  at  Ancvra  in  the  vestibule 
of  a  Temple  of  Augustus.  Besides  these  pillars  two  obelisks 
stood  in  front  of  the  entrance  door,  one  of  which  is  now 
placed  in  the  Piazza  of  S.  Maria  Maggiore,  while  the  other 
stands  between  the  statues  of  the  Dioscuri  on  the  Quirinal, 
These  obelisks  were  not,  however,  placed  there  at  the  time 
when  the  tomb  was  first  built,  but  at  a  later  period  of  the 
empire.  The  entrance  fronted  towards  the  city,  i.e.,  to  the 
south,  near  the  apse  of  the  Church  of  S.  Rocco,  and  appears 
to  have  had  a  portico  with  columns,  the  traces  of  which  are 
still  left. 

The  interior  was  formed  by  massive  concentric  walls,  the 
spaces  between  which  were  vaulted  and  divided  into  cells  for 
the  deposit  of  the  urns  containing  the  ashes  of  the  illustrious 
dead.  A  great  alabaster  vase  found  near  the  Mausoleum 
in  1777,  and  placed  in  the  Vatican  Museum,  was  probably 
one  of  these.  We  know  from  various  passages  of  Roman 
authors  that  the  first  burial  which  took  place  here  was  that  of 
the  young  Marcellus,  the  favourite  nephew  of  Augustus,  who 
died  at  Baise  ^  in  b.c.  23,  and  the  last,  that  of  the  Emperor 
Nerva  in  a.d.  98.  Trajan  was  buried  under  his  column. 
The  Mausoleum  of  Hadrian  became  the  Imperial  tomb  in 
A.D.  138.^  During  the  160  years  which  intervened,  the  ashes 
of  Agrippa,  Octavia,  the  mother  of  Marcellus,  Drusus,  Caius 

*  Strabo,  v.  .3,  8.  ^  Dion  Cass.  liii.  32,  liv.  26. 

^  Dion  Cass.  Ixix.  23. 


176 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


MURO  TORTO. 


177 


and  Lucius.  Augustus  hims..lf  and  Livia,  Germamcus,  Drusus. 
son  of  TiU^riusTthe  elder  Agrippina,  TilH>nus.  Antoma  (wife 
of  L    Douiitius).  Claudius  and  Britannicus  were  deposited 
herT"    m-sides  these  there  must  have  been  a  great  number  of 
oth!.r  frtnds  and  relations  of  the  Im,>erial  am.ly  buned  here^ 
OnW  one  of  all  the  inscriptions  recording  these  burials  is  now 
extanr  It  is  engraved  on  a  pedestal,  which  bore  the  urn 
where  the  ashes  of  the  elder  Agrippina  the  wife  of  German  - 
Tus  and  mother  of  Caligula,  lay.     In  the  '"«^"l'«'7,  °»    ,^'| 
nedestal  Caligula  is  .ailed  Augustus,  showing  that  the  bunal 
took  plac-^  after  his  accession,  in  accordance  with  the  account 
of  A  S"«^*«  I'aiiishmeut  by  TiW-rius.     The  pedestal  was 
holWd  out  and  used  in  the  Middle  Ages  as  a  measure  for 
CO  land   is  still  inscribed  with  the  words  »-";^^^^^ 
OBANO      It  mav  now  be  seen  in  the  courtyard  of  the  Conser- 
vator's Palace  on  the  Capitol.     At  the  same  time,  and  at 
Is^^t  Ix-tween  the  Mausoleum  and  the  Corso  were  found 
tix  dppi  of  travertine,  recording  the  burning  ot  the  bodies 
of  foir   ot  the   ch.ld,x.n  of    Germanicus,   T.l^rius    C«sar 
Caius  C^sar,  Livilla.  and  one  whose  "''•'»«  3%^"^^^^^  J^„^ 
reniainiu>'   two  cippi  record  the   burning  of   the  bodies  ot 
Tson  of"Drusus,  and  of  one  of  the  Flavian  family.     It  is 
:v  dent  that  these  U-longed  to  the  Ustrina  C^sanun,  a  pkce 
described   bv  Strain),  as   quoted   aWve.  where  the   corpses 
of  the  dead  were  burnt  and  the  formal  ceremony  of  collecting 
?he  bones  took  place.      The  cippi  may  still  Ix,  seen  in  the 

""  ThT^Xun  remained  closed  after  Nerva's  funei.1 
until  the  capture  of  Kome  by  Alaric  in  a.d.  409  when  the 
Goths  broke  it  o,.en  in  their  se*ch  for  treasure,  and  scattered 
fhe  ashes  of  the  'ca^sars  to  the  winds.  It  was  then  probably 
that  the  alabaster  vase  mentioned  al>ove  was  removed  from  the 
Mausoleum  and  carried  to  the  Ustrina  where  it  -as^-d- 

In  the  12th  century  the  Mausoleum  suffered  the  fate  ot  all 
the  other  great  buildfngs  of  Rome.  It  became  a  castle  of  the 
Colonna  family,  and  bore  the  "'^m%A"Sr*^-  J'^wv 
of  earth  was  then  probablv  removed,  and  a  stone  or  brick 
ower  buut  in  its  [,lace.  "Previously  to  tWs  «-  sta  -  "f 
Augustus,  with  the  bronze  decorations  of  the  Pantheon  and 
Forlm  of  Trajan,  had  probably  l.een  carried  to  Syracuse  by 
Constans,  and  thence  to  Alexandria  by  the  Saracens. 


The  building  might,  however,  still,  like  the  tomb  of  Hadrian, 
have  long  defied  the  attacks  of  time,  had  not  the  Romans 
themselves,  in  the  commotions  of  1167,  demolished  the 
Colonna  Castle,  and  with  it  the  greater  part  of  the  walls  upon 
which  it  was  built.  Two  hundred  years  later,  the  body  of 
the  last  of  the  Tribunes,  Cola  di  Rienzi,  was  burned  by  the 
Jews  before  the  Mausoleum.^  At  that  time  the  spot  was 
called  Campo  d'  Austa  from  the  ancient  site  of  the  Ustrina. 
The  interior  chambers  seem  to  have  been  entirely  demolished  in 
the  fifteenth  century,  and  only  the  exterior  wall  left.  Poggio, 
the  Florentine,  describes  the  building  as  used  in  his  time 
(1440)  for  a  vineyard,  and  before  that  date  its  shape  was 
comi>letely  changed  by  the  falling  in  of  the  vaulting  of  the 
interior,  so  that  it  presented  the  appearance  of  an  amphi- 
theatre instead  of  a  lofty  conical  building.  In  Donati's  book 
(1638)  it  is  represented  as  a  funnel-shaped  ruin  with  a 
garden  on  the  sloping  sides  of  the  interior.  Much  informa- 
tion might  doubtless  be  gained  by  well-directed  excavations, 
which  have  apparently  never  been  undertaken  on  account  of 
the  present  occupation  of  the  ruin  as  a  circus  in  winter  and 
a  theatre  (the  Teatro  Correa)  in  summer. 

Muro  Torto. — Beyond  the  Porta  del  Popolo  on  the  edge 
of  the  Pincian  hill,  there  is  a  very  ancient  piece  of  wall,  faced 
in  the  style  called  opus  reticulatum,  which  is  made  of  small 
diamond- shaped  blocks  of  tufa  set  in  the  surface  of  a  mass  of 
concrete.  These  blocks  are  driven  into  the  concrete  before 
the  lime  has  dried  and  set.  This  ruin,  which  is  called  the 
Muro  Torto,  is  often  spoken  of  as  having  been  a  part  of  the 
house  of  Sylla,  but  I  do  not  know  upon  what  authority.  It 
may  have  formed  a  part  of  the  substructions  of  some  of  the 
private  buildings  on  the  Pincian,  previous  to  the  time  of 
Aurelian,  who  incorporated  it  in  his  wall.  Near  the  angle 
of  the  wall  where  it  turns  sharply  to  the  south  is  a  point  at 
which  the  brickwork  leans  in  great  masses  considerably  out 
of  the  perpendicular,  whence  the  name  of  Muro  Torto.  Pro- 
copius  speaks  of  this  as  having  been  in  the  same  state  long 
before  his  time,  and  calls  it  the  broken  wall. 

Pons  iElius.— Passing  along  the  bank  of  the  Tiber  by 
the  Via  Ripetta  from  the  Porta  del  Popolo  we  come  to  the 

*  Reumont,  Gescli.  Roms,  vol.  ii.  p.  917,  A.D.  1354 ;  Gibbon,  ch.  Ixx. 

H 


I 


MAUSOLEUM   OF   HADRIAN. 


179 


bridge  of  S.  Angelo  (Pons  ^lius)  which  crosses  the  river 
close  to  the  Castle  of  S.  Angelo,  anciently  the  Mausoleum  of 
Hadrian.  This  bridge  was  built  by  the  Emperor  Hadrian  at 
the  same  time  with  his  Mausoleum.  The  anonymous  writer 
of  the  Einsiedeln  MS.  gives  an  inscription  which  in  his  time 
remained  upon  the  bridge  assigning  its  erection  to  the  nine- 
teenth tribuneship  and  third  consulship  of  Hadrian,  which 
indicates  the  year  a.d.  135,  and  in  confirmation  of  this  Nardini 
gives  a  medal  of  Hadrian  which  dates  from  his  third  consul- 
ship, and  has  on  the  obverse  a  representation  of  this  bridge. 


The  Castle  of  S.  Angeix),  formerly  the  Mausoleum  of  Hadrian. 

The  name  Pons  ^lius,  given  to  it  by  Dion  Cassius  in  his 
account  of  Hadrian's  funeral,  was  probably  derived  either 
from  Hadrian's  praenomen  ^lius,  or  from  the  name  of  his 
son  ^lius  Caesar  whose  burial  was  the  first  which  took  place 
in  the  Mausoleum.  The  piers  of  the  bridge  are  ancient,  but 
the  upper  parts  have  been  rebuilt. 

Mausoleum  of  Hadrian.— The  Mausoleum  of  Hadrian 
owes  its  preservation  entirely  to  the  peculiar  fitness  of  the 
site  and  shape  for  the  purpose  of  a  fortress  which  it  has 
served  since  the  time  of  Belisarius.  Had  it  not  been  thus 
made  serviceable  to  the   turbulent   spirit  of   the  mediaeval 


180 


ANCIENT  ROME. 


Komans,  the  same  Lands  which  stripped  the  great  pile  of  its 
marble  facing,  and,  after  hurling  the  statues  with  which  it 
was  adorned  into  the  moat,  allowed  them  to  lie  there   in 
oblivion,  would  have  torn  asunder  and  carried  away  the  whole 
mass  to  furnish  materials  for  the  palaces  and  stables  of  their 
ferocious   and  ignorant  nobles.     The  original  form  of  this 
colossal  mausoleum  is  now  greatly  changed  by  the  modern 
buildings  which  have  been  piled  upon  it,  by  the  addition  ot 
the  corbels  round  its  upper  part,   and  by  the   loss   of  the 
exterior  facing  of  marble,  so  that  the  ancient  appearance  can 
be  onlv  conjecturally  restored.     The  remaining  ancient  part 
consists  of   a   square   basement   of  concrete  and   travertine 
blocks,  the  sides  of  which  measured  95  yards  surmounted  by 
an  enormous  cylindrical  structure  of  travertine  70  yards  in 
diameter  and  76  feet  high.     Procopius  tells  us  that  this  was 
cased  in  Parian  marble,  and  that  upon  the  summit  stood  a 
number  of   splendid   marble   statues  of  men   and    horses. 
There  are  several  other  tombs  in  Italy  constructed  upon  the 
same  plan  with  a  cyhndrical  tower  placed  upon  a  square  base. 
Two  of  these  are  upon  the  Appian  road  about  three  miles 
from  Rome,  the  celebrated  Tomb  of  Caecilia  MeteHa,  and  that 
of  the  Servihi,  and  belong  to  the  Eepublican  Era.   Two  others 
are  of  the  Augustan  Age,  the  tomb  of  the  Plautu  at  Ponte 
Lucano,  near  Tivoh,  and  the  beautiful  monument  of  Munatius 
Plancus,  near  Gaeta.     Hadrian's  design  was  not  therefore  by 
any  means  a  new  one,  as  we  might  have  expected  in  the  case 
of  an  emperor  who  was  himself  an  architect,  and  proud  of  his 

artistic  designs.  .       .,    ,  ^i      x  x         * 

It  is  plain  from  the  history  of  Procopius  that  the  statues  ot 
men  and  horses  which  he  describes  were  upon  the  top  of  the 
building  For  the  defenders  of  the  mausoleum  against  the 
army  of  Vitiges,  being  hard  pressed  by  the  approach  of  the 
Goths  under  shelter  of  a  testudo,  in  their  despair  seized  these 
statues  and  hurled  them  upon  the  heads  of  their  assailants, 
thus  breaking  down  the  testudines  and  repelling  the  attack.  Ut 
the  exact  order  in  which  they  were  arranged  we  have  no  evidence. 
Tradition  asserts  that  the  twenty-four  Corinthian  columns 
destroyed  by  fire  in  the  Basilica  of  St.  Paul  in  1823  formerly 
belonged  to  the  Mausoleum  of  Hadrian,  and  that  they  were 

»  Procop.  Bell.  Goth.  22. 


MAUSOLEUM   OF  HADRIAN. 


181 


removed  by  Honorius.^  A  comparison  of  this  tradition  with 
a  passage  of  Herodian,  in  which  he  says  that  the  ashes  of 
Septimius  Severus  were  buried  in  the  temple  where  rest  the 
bones  of  the  Antonini,  has  led  to  the  conjecture  that  the 
columns  formed  the  colonnade  of  a  round  temple  on  the  top 
of  the  mausoleum  in  which  temple  Hadrian's  colossal  statue 
stood,  and  that  the  bronze  fir-cone  found  here,  which  is  now 
in  the  Vatican  garden,  ornamented  the  summit.  Round  this 
temple,  and  upon  the  level  top  of  the  cylindrical  tower,  may 
have  been  arranged  the  various  statues  of  which  Procopius 
speaks. 

The  colossal  head  of  Hadrian's  statue  found  here  is  still  to 
be  seen  in  the  Museo  Pio  Clementino.  The  bronze  gilt  pea- 
cocks and  the  pine-cone  in  the  Giardino  della  Pigna,  the 
famous  Barberini  Faun,  now  at  Munich,  and  the  dancing 
Faun  at  Florence,  were  amongst  the  ornaments  of  the  upper 
part  of  the  tomb.  The  cone  has  been  pierced  with  holes, 
and  apparently  used  as  a  fountain  at  some  later  date.  Another 
conjecture  as  to  the  shape  of  the  upper  part  of  the  building 
is  that  it  was  surmounted  by  a  smaller  cylindrical  tower,  in 
which  stood  the  colossal  statue  of  Hadrian.  There  is  not 
sufficient  evidence  to  give  any  degree  of  certainty  to  either  of 
these  conjectural  restorations. 

The  interior  of  the  building,  according  to  the  latest  dis- 
coveries, consists  of  a  large  central  rectangular  chamber 
(36  by  30  feet  wide  and  54  feet  high),  approached  by  an 
ascending  spiral  corridor,  leading  from  a  lower  chamber  which 
communicated  immediately  with  the  principal  entrance.  The 
entrance  was  a  high  arch  in  the  cylindrical  tower  immediately 
opposite  the  bridge ;  it  is  now  walled  up  and  the  lower 
chamber  into  which  it  leads  can  only  be  approached  from 
above. 

In  the  central  chamber  there  are  four  niches  in  which 
formerly  stood  the  urns  and  tombstones  of  the  illustrious 
persons  buried  here.  A  large  sarcophagus  of  porphyry  found 
here  was  used  for  the  tomb  of  Pope  Innocent  II.  in  the 
Lateran,  and  the  lid  may  still  be  seen  in  the  Baptist^rium  of 
St.  Peter's,  where  it  is  used  as  a  font.  The  chamber  was 
lighted  and  ventilated  by  square  passages  cut  through  the 

^  Bunsen's  Memoirs,  vol.  i.  p.  208.  Hirt.  Gesch.  der  Bauk,  ii. 
p.  373. 


182 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


stone  in  a  slanting  direction,  and  the  rain  water  was  carried 
off  by  other  channels,  which  conveyed  it  into  drains  at  the 
foot  of  the  building.     It  does  not   appear  to  be  certainly 


MAUSOLEUM   OF  HADRIAN. 


183 


Bko.nze  Cone  and  PtucocKs  in  the  Vatican  Gardens. 

known  whether  other  chambers  may  not  exist  in  the  interior 
which  have  not  been  yet  discovered.  Piranesi  gives  a  number 
of  additional  chambers  besides  the  two  above  mentioned,  but 
his  representation  is  probably  conjectural. 


After  the  burial  of  Nerva  no  more  room  was  left  in  the 
Mausoleum  of  Augustus  for  the  interment  of  the  imperial 
ashes.  Trajan's  remains  were  deposited  under  his  column 
in  the  forum  bearing  his  name,  but  Hadrian  gladly  seized 
the  opportunity  of  adding  another  to  the  many  colossal 
structures  he  had  already  reared.  The  mausoleum  was  begun 
at  the  same  time  with  the  ^lian  bridge  in  the  year  a.d.  135. 
The  bricks  of  which  part  of  the  building  consists  have  stamps 
of  various  years  of  Hadrian's  reign,  and  show  that  the  greater 
part  of  the  building  was  erected  by  him,  though  Antoninus 
Pius  probably  completed  it.  Hadrian's  son  ^lius,  who  died 
before  his  father,  was  the  first  Caesar  whose  ashes  were  placed 
in  this  tomb.  After  him,  Hadrian  himself  was  buried  here, 
and  the  Emperor  Antoninus  Pius,  and  his  wife  the  elder 
Faustina,  three  of  their  sons,  Fulvius  Antoninus,  M.  Galerius 
Aurelius  Antoninus,  and  L.  Aurelius  Verus,  the  colleague  of 
M.  Aurelius  in  the  empire,  and  a  daughter  Aurelia  Fadilla. 

No  record  has  been  preserved  of  the  burial  of  M.  Aurelius, 
but  it  seems  probable  that  his  ashes  were  deposited  here,  as 
the  Mausoleum  of  Hadrian  continued  to  be  the  tomb  of  the 
Antonines  till  the  time  of  Severus,  who  built  a  third  imperial 
monument,  the  Septizonium,  on  the  Appian  Road.^  Four 
children  of  M.  Aurelius  were  buried  here,  who  died  during 
their  father's  life,  named  Aurelius  Antoninus,  T.  ^lius 
Aurelius,  and  Domitia  Faustina,  and  also  his  miserable  son 
and  successor  the  Emperor  Commodus.  The  inscriptions 
recording  all  these  burials,  were  copied  by  the  anonymous 
writer  of  Einsiedeln  in  the  ninth  century,  when  they  were 
apparently  still  legible  upon  the  south  wall  of  the  square 
basement.  The  inscriptions  recording  the  names  Hadrian 
and  M.  Aurelius  may  have  been  placed  upon  the  upper  part 
of  the  tomb,  like  those  on  the  Plautian  Tomb  and  the  Tomb 
of  Csecilia  Metella,  and  may  therefore  either  have  escaped  the 
notice  of  the  above-mentioned  anonymous  traveller,  or  have 
been  stripped  off  with  the  marble  casing  of  the  exterior. 

After  the  burial  of  M.  Aurelius  the  tomb  was  closed  until 
the  sack  of  Rome  by  Alaric  in  a.d.  410,  when  this  barbarian's 
soldiers  probably  broke  it  open  in  search  of  treasure,  and 
scattered  the  ashes  of  the  Antonines  to  the  winds.     From 

^  Hist.  Aug.  Sept.  Sev.  19,  24.     Herodian,  iv.  1,  4. 


184 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


this  time  for  a  hundred  years  the  tomb  was  turned  into  a 
fortress,  the  possession  of  which  became  the  object  of  many 
stru^'<;les  in  the  wars  of  the  Goths  under  Vitiges  a.d.  537  and 
Totilas  who  was  killed  a.d.  552.  From  the  end  of  the  sixth 
century,  when  Gregory  the  Great  saw  on  its  summit  a  vision 
of  St.  Michael  sheathing  his  sword  in  token  that  the  prayers 
of  the  Romans  for  preservation  from  the  plague  were  heard, 
the  Mausoleum  of  Hadrian  was  considered  as  a  consecrated 
building  under  the  name  of  S.  Angelus  inter  nubes,  usque  ad 
caelos,  or  inter  caelos,  until  it  was  seized  in  a.d.  923  by  Alberic, 
Count  of  Tusculum  and  the  infamous  Marozia,  and  again  be- 
came the  scene  of  the  fierce  struggles  of  those  miserable  ages 
between  pojH'S,  emperors,  and  reckless  adventurers.'  The  last 
injuries  appear  to  have  been  inflicted  upon  the  building  in 
the  contest  between  the  French  Pope  Clemens  VII.  and  the 
Italian  Poj)e  Urban  VI.  The  exterior  was  then  finally  dis- 
mantled and  stripped.  Partial  additions  and  restorations 
soon  began  to  take  place.  Boniface  IX.,  in  the  beginning  of 
the  fifteenth  century,  erected  new  battlements  and  fortifica- 
tions on  and  around  it,  and  since  his  time  it  has  remained  in 
the  possession  of  the  Papal  Government.  The  strange  medley 
of  Papal  reception  rooms,  dungeons,  and  military  magazines 
which  now  encumbers  the  top  was  chiefly  built  by  Paul  III. 
The  corridor  connecting  it  with  the  Vatican  dates  from  the 
time  of  Alexander  Borgia  (a.d.  1494),  and  the  bronze  statue 
of  St.  Michael  on  the  summit,  which  replaced  an  older  marble 
statue,  from  the  reign  of  Benedict  XIV.^ 

^  Oilihon,  cli.  xlix. 

*  Donati,  •'  Koma  vetiLs  ac  recens,"  1665,  p.  476. 


i 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE    QUIRINAL    HILL BATHS    OF    DIOCLETIAN AGGER    OF 

SERVIUS CASTRA    PRETORIA. 

Baths  of  Diocletian.— The  broad  flat  space  to  the  N.E. 
of  the  Quirinal  Hill,  was  occupied  by  the  Thermae  of  Dio- 
cletian, now  converted  into  the  great  Church  of  S.  Maria 
degli  Angeli.  This  enormous  group  of  buildings  was  the 
most  extensive  of  all  the  gigantic  edifices  of  the  empire,  and 
the  ground  plan  is  not  difficult  to  trace  by  the  aid  of  the 
existing  ruins.  Some  idea  of  their  dimensions  will  be  given 
by  remarking  that  the  grand  court  inclosed  a  space  once 
occupied  by  the  church,  monastery,  and  spacious  garden  of 
the  Monks  of  S.  Bernard,  the  great  church  and  monastery  of 
the  Carthusians,  two  very  large  piazzas,  the  large  granaries 
of  the  Papal  Government,  part  of  the  grounds  of  the  Villa 
Montalto  Negroni,  and  some  vineyards  and  houses  besides. 
The  north-western  side  of  this  grand  court  is  now  only  marked 
by  the  remains  of  two  semicircular  tribunes  in  front  of  the 
railway  station.  The  rest  of  the  foundations  of  this  side  are 
hidden  under  the  great  cloister  of  the  Carthusian  monastery, 
and  in  the  district  beyond.  The  principal  entrance  was  on 
this  side.  The  south-eastern  side  is  now  occupied  by  the 
buildings  of  the  railway  station,  at  the  back  of  which  were 
discovered  the  ruins  of  a  large  reservoir  now  destroyed  (k), 
in  the  shape  of  a  right-angled  triangle.  The  peculiar  form 
of  this  building  seems  to  have  been  necessitated  by  the  course 
of  a  public  road  of  some  importance  confining  it  on  the  south 
side,  and  it  has  been  supposed,  not  without  reason,  that  this 
was  the  principal  road  leading  out  of  the  city  at  the  Porta 
Viminalis.  The  interior  was  filled  with  pillars  like  those  which 
still  stand  in  the  ancient  reservoirs  at  Baise  and  Constantinople. 


186 


ANCIP:NT   ROME. 


On  the  south-western  side  of  the  court  there  are  con- 
siderable remains.  In  the  gardens  of  the  monastery  of 
S.  Bernardo,  part  of  the  cavea  of  a  theatre  (a)  with  a  radius 
of  about  70  yards,  may  be  traced,  not  unlike  that  in  the 
Thermae  of  Titus.  The  seats  of  this  are  gone,  but  parts  of 
the  back  wall  with  niches  remain.  On  each  side  of  this  are 
traces  of  rectangular  chambers,  and  at  the  corners  stand  two 
round  buildings,  one  of  which  is  nearly  perfect,  and  has  been 
converted  into  the  Church  of  S.  Bernardo.  The  ancient 
domed  roof  with  its  octagonal  panelled  work  is  still  standing. 
Part  of  the  other  rotunda  at  the  southern  corner  is  also  left, 
and  has  been  built  into  the  end  of  the  Via  Strozzi. 

The  north-western  side  of  the  court  ran  parallel  to  the  Via 
di  Venti  Settembre  from  the  Church  of  S.  Bernardo.  It  con- 
tained, according  to  Palladio's  plan,  two  semicircular  exedrse 
(ll)  for  philosophical  conversation  or  disputation,  and  some 
other  rooms  the  purpose  of  which  is  not  known.  The  Ulpian 
libraries  are  said  to  have  been  transferred  to  these  baths  from 
the  Forum  Trajani.  In  this  spacious  court  stood  a  great  pile 
of  buildings,  the  centre  of  which  was  occupied  by  a  great  hall 
(d),  now  the  church  of  S.  Maria  degli  Angeli.  The  pavement 
of  this  was  raised  above  the  ancient  level  of  the  ground  by 
nearly  eight  feet,  when  Mi(;hael  Angelo  undertook  to  convert 
the  ancient  building  into  a  church,  and  thus  the  bases  of  the 
columns  remain  buried,  and  new  bases  of  stucco  work  have 
been  placed  round  them.  This  roof  must  therefore  have  been 
in  ancient  times  considerably  more  lofty  than  at  present.  The 
ancient  roof  was  120  feet  high,  and  constructed  as  now,  with 
an  intersecting  vault  in  three  compartments,  supported  by  the 
eight  colossal  ancient  granite  pillars.  These  columns  of 
Egyptian  granite  with  their  Corinthian  and  composite  capitals 
form  the  sole  relic  of  the  magnificence  of  the  hall.  In  the 
modern  church  the  transept  corresponds  to  the  longer  axis  of 
the  ancient  hall,  and  the  nave  to  the  shorter.  Vanvitelli,  who 
altered  the  arrangement  of  the  church  in  1749,  threw  out  an 
apse  for  the  choir  on  the  north-east  side,  and  made  the  circular 
laconicum  (c)  of  the  old  Thermae  serve  as  an  entrance  porch. 

Antiquarians  are  not  agreed  as  to  the  purpose  of  this  great 
central  hall.  Scamozzi,  in  his  edition  of  Palladio,  calls  it  a 
xystus  for  athletic  exercises,  but,  following  the  analogy  of  the 
Thermae  of  Caracalla,  the  baths  at  Pompeii,  and  some  of  the 


p.  186. 


i^ecUuraL  rtstoratUmji. 


ItondLoiv:  G.Btli/  JbSorvm. 


F.S.Weller.r.R-G.S. 


THE  BATHS   OF  DIOCLETIAN. 


187 


other  great  thermae,  we  should  rather  suppose  it  to  have  been 
the  tepidarium.  This  view  is  confirmed  when  we  notice  that 
the  laconicum  or  sudarium  (c)  is  on  one  side,  and  the  natatio 
(p)  for  the  cold  baths  on  the  other,  between  which  the  tepi- 
darium was  kept  at  a  mean  temperature. 

The  two  wings  of  the  central  building  were  occupied  by- 
large  peristjlia,  with  cold  piscinae  in  the  centre  of  each  (ee). 
Round  these  peristylia  were  built  various  rooms  for  athletic 
exercises,  called  sphaeristeria  and  gymnasia. 

The  style  of  brick  building  used  in  these  Thermae,  recalls 
that  of  the  Basilica  of  Constantine,  where  we  see  the  bricks 
irregularly  and  hastily  laid ;  and  the  whole  of  the  architec- 
tural details  which  have  been  preserved  seem  to  point  to 
the  same  period.  Positive  evidence  of  the  date  and  the 
builder  is  not,  however,  wanting.  An  inscription,  which  was 
still  to  be  seen  two  hundred  years  ago  in  the  thermae,  and 
which  has  been  partially  preserved  to  us,  when  compared 
with  three  others  which  were  found  in  the  neighbourhood, 
shows  that  Maximianus  gave  orders  for  building  these  thermae 
when  he  was  absent  in  Africa,  during  his  Mauretanian  cam- 
paigns, and  intended  them  to  be  dedicated  to  the  honour 
of  his  brother  Diocletian.  The  dedication  took  place  after 
the  abdication  of  Diocletian  and  Maximianus,  when  their 
successors  Constantius  Chlorus  and  Galerius  Maximianus  had 
begun  their  reign,  a.d.  305,  but  before  the  death  of  Constan- 
tius in  306.  The  old  chronologers  place  the  date  of  the  com- 
mencement of  the  buildings  in  302,  which  agrees  very  well 
with  the  date  of  the  Mauretanian  campaigns  of  Maximian. 

Baronius  accounts  for  the  preservation  of  so  large  a  part  of 
these  thermae  by  the  statement  that  they  were  considered 
to  be  a  monument  of  the  Diocletian  persecution.  There  was 
a  tradition,  he  says,  that  Diocletian,  after  dismissing  some 
thousands  of  his*  soldiers  because  they  held  the  Christian 
faith,  compelled  them  to  work  as  slaves  in  the  erection  of 
his  thermae,  and  ordered  them  to  be  martyred  when  they 
had  finished  the  building.  It  has  also  been  said  that  the 
bricks  are  in  some  cases  marked  with  a  cross,  but  this  is 
not  well  authenticated. 

At  the  end  of  the  fifth  century,  the  baths  are  mentioned 
by  Sidonius  ApoUinaris  as  still  used,  but  at  the  time  of  the 
visit  of  the  .anonymous  writer  of  the  Einsiedeln  MS.,  pro- 


188 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


bably  about  a.d.  850,  they  were  evidently  in  ruins.  Among 
the  ruins  have  been  found,  from  time  to  time,  a  number  of 
busts  of  the  Emperors  Diocletian,  Maximian,  Galerius,  and 
Constantine,  and  also  the  well-known  busts  of  philosophers 
now  in  the  Farnese  collection  at  Naples. 

The  great  fountain  now  in  front  of  the  railway  station  is 
supplied  by  the  water  brought  along  the  course  of  the  ancient 
Aqua  Marcia. 

The  Servian  Agger. — The  Agger  of  Servius,  which  has 
now  been  so  much  levelled  and  destroyed,  ran  between  the 
Church  of  S.  Maria  degli  Angeli  and  the  present  walls. 
This  enormous  rampart  has  been  described  by  Dionysius. 
He  says  that  the  ditch  outside  was  more  than  100  feet  broad 
at  the  narrowest  part  and  30  feet  deep,  and  that  a  wall  stood 
upon  the  edge  of  the  ditch  supported  by  the  agger,  which 
was  of  such  massive  strength  that  it  could  not  be  shaken 
down  by  battering  rams,  or  breached  by  undermining  the 
foundation.  Dionysius  gives  the  length  of  the  agger  as  seven 
stadia,  and  Strabo  as  six,  which,  taking  the  stadium  a,t  202 
yards,  nearly  corresponds  to  1,400  yards.  The  breadth  he 
states  at  50  feet.  That  this  ditch  and  wall  were  the  work  of 
some  of  the  later  kings  there  can  be  no  doubt,  but  it  cannot 
he  determined  what  part  each  took  in  their  erection.  The 
final  completion  of  the  whole  undertaking  is  ascribed  to  Tar- 
quinius  Superbus,  who  deej^ened  the  ditch,  raised  the  wall, 
and  added  new  towers.  The  additions  made  by  him  can  be 
distinguished  in  the  portion  brought  to  light  by  the  modern 
excavations  in  the  railway  cutting.^ 

Excavations  which  have  been  made  in  this  part  of  the 
agger  from  time  to  time,  and  the  extensions  of  the  city  in 
this  direction  have  brought  to  light  an  enormous  wall  buried 
in  the  earth,  constructed  of  huge  blocks  of  peperino.  This  is 
probably  the  wall  mentioned  by  Dionysius,  which  in  his  time 
stood  outside  the  rampart  on  the  edge  of  the  ditch.  The 
remains  of  buildings  of  the  imperial  times  have  been  found 
placed  upon  and  outside  of  this  wall,  and  it  is  probable  that 
the  whole  ditch  is  now  filled  with  such  remains,  and  most 
part  of  the  wall  buried  in  them. 

The  central  railway  station  stands  close  to  this  agger,  and 

^  Dionys.  ix,  68.     Brocchi,  Suolo  di  Roma,  p.  144. 


THE   QUIRINAL    HILL. 


189 


■ 


cuttings  have  lately  been  made  through  it  to  make  room  for 
the  station,  by  which  new  portions  of  the  wall  have  been 
disinterred.  AH  these  excavations  have  proved  the  truth  of 
Dionysius's  description,  the  wall  having  been  found  on  the 
outer  side  of  the  original  agger,  which  is  easily  distinguishable 
from  the  rubbish  in  which  it  is  buried  by  being  composed  of 
clean  soil  unmixed  with  potsherds  and  brickbats.  The  wall 
probably  ran  from  the  southern  end  of  the  agger  along  the 
back  of  the  Esquiline  and  Caelian  in  the  direction  of  the 
modern  Via  Merulana  and  Via  Ferratella.  In  this  portion 
must  be  placed  the  Porta  Querquetulana  and  the  Porta  Cajli- 
montana,  but  their  exact  situation  is  unknown.^ 

The  Praetorian  Camp. — Near  the  Porta  Pia,  to  the 
north-east  of  the  church  of  S.  Maria  degli  Angeli,  the  square 
of  the  Castra  Praetoria  projects  from  the  walls.  This  per- 
manent camp  was  established  under  Tiberius  by  Sejanus  ; 
subsequently  Aurelian  made  use  of  the  four  outer  walls  of 
this  camp  as  a  part  of  his  fortification,  and  therefore  Con- 
stantine, when  he  abolished  the  Praetorian  Guard,  pulled 
down  the  side  towards  the  city  only.  The  porta  decumana  of 
the  camp  is  still  to  be  seen  though  it  is  now  walled  up,  and 
also  the  porta  principalis  dextra,  but  the  porta  principalis 
sinistra  has  disappeared,  or  perhaps  never  existed.  The  camp 
was  inclosed  by  a  wall  at  least  as  early  as  the  time  of  Pertinax 
and  Julian,  for  here  occurred  that  memorable  and  most  melan- 
choly scene  in  Roman  history,  when  the  Praetorian  guards  shut 
themselves  within  their  camp  after  the  murder  of  the  re- 
forming emperor  Pertinax  and  put  up  the  throne  to  auction. 
Julian  and  Sulpicianus  were  the  bidders.  The  soldiers  let 
down  a  ladder  and  allowed  Julian  to  get  up  upon  the  wall, 
says  Herodian,  for  they  would  not  open  the  gates  before  they 
heard  how  much  would  be  offered.  Sulpicianus  was  not 
allowed  to  mount  the  wall.  They  then  bid  one  against  the 
other,  and  at  last  they  ran  up  the  price  little  by  little  to  five 
thousand  drachmas  to  each  soldier.  Julian  then  impatiently 
outbid  his  rival  by  offering  at  once  six  thousand  two  hundred 
and  fifty,  and  the  Empire  was  knocked  down  to  him.  This 
was  not  by  any  means  the  first  or  only  time  that  the  fate  of 
the  Empire  had  been  decided  here.^ 

^  Ann.  deir  Inst,  xxxiv.  133.    Festus,  p.  261.    Varro,  L.  L.  v.  §  49. 
^  Herodian,  ii.  6. 


190 


ANCIENT    ROME. 


The  chief  power  in  the  Roman  state  had  lain  within  these 
walls  of  the  Praetorian  camp  since  the  time  when  Tiberius 
consented  to  allow  their  designing  colonel,  Sejanus,  to  establish 
the  Praetorian  guards  in  j^ermanent  quarters,  and  the  readers 
of  the  historians  of  the  Empire  will  recall  the  many  vivid 
pictures  of  their  rapacity  and  violence.  To  go  to  the  Praetorian 
camp  and  promise  a  largess  to  the  guards  was  the  first  duty  of 
a  Roman  emperor. 

The  eastern  side  of  the  camp,  which  is  probably  the  only 
one  now  retaining  its  original  form,  measures  500  yards,  and 
the  southern  400  yards.  The  latter  seems  to  have  been  partly 
pulled  down,  and  the  northern  side  has  also  been  altered. 
Aurelian's  Wall  did  not  exactly  meet  the  two  angles  of  the 
camp  towards  the  city,  but  its  course  was  here  determined  by 
the  houses  and  buildings  in  the  vicinity  which  it  was  desirable 
to  protect.  The  walls  of  the  camp  were,  according  to  Bunsen, 
at  first  only  14  feet  high,  but  were  raised  by  Aurelian  and 
fortified  with  towers.  Some  parts  of  the  walls  doubtless 
consist  of  the  original  brickwork  of  Aurelian's  time,  as  the 
masonry  bears  the  marks  of  great  age,  and  is  of  a  most 
regular  and  solid  style.  A  few  of  the  soldiers'  quarters 
are  still  left,  consisting  of  rows  of  small  low-arched  rooms 
similar  to  those  on  the  Palatine  and  at  Hadrian's  Villa  near 
Tivoli.' 

Porta  Chiusa. — In  the  angle  formed  by  the  projecting 
wall  of  the  Praetorian  camp  and  Aurelian's  Wall,  there  is  a 
gate  now  walled  up  and  called  simply  by  the  name  of  Porta 
Chiusa.  This  gate  is  one  of  the  mysteries  of  Roman  topo- 
graphy. It  is  not  mentioned  by  Procopius  or  by  the  anony- 
mous writer  of  Einsiedeln,  yet  it  seems  too  large  and  important 
to  have  been  altogether  omitted.  That  a  gate  would  be 
required  here  in  Aurelian's  Wall,  at  least  before  Constantine's 
reign,  while  the  camp  was  still  occupied,  seems  probable.  No 
passage  would  be  allowed  to  the  public  through  the  camp,  and 
besides  the  Porta  Nomentana,  another  gate  would  be  wanted 
for  the  convenience  of  persons  resorting  to  the  camp  from  the 
country  with  supplies  of  provisions,  or  on  business  of  various 
kinds,  or  for  the  shopkeepers  who  would  naturally  live  within 
the  walls  near  the  camp.     It  may  have  been  closed  when  the 

*  Bunsen,  Beschreilmng  Konia,  iii.  2,  359. 


H 

O 


m 


192 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


camp  was  abolished  by  Constantine,  and  that  part  of  the  city 
became  comparatively  empty,  and  it  would  thus  in  the  time  of 
Procopius,  or  the  anonymous  writer  of  Einsiedeln,  have  been 
lon^  blocked  up  and  forgotten  or  j>erhaps  concealed  by  other 
buildinj's.     This  mav  account  for  their  silence. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE    AVENTINE    AND    C^LIAN    HILLS. 

The  Servian  Walls. — Before  the  end  of  the  regal  period 
there  was  an  enlargement  of  the  limits  of  the  city  in  which 
the  Aventine  and  Cselian  were  comprehended.  Dionysius, 
Livy,  and  Aurelius  Victor  all  relate  that  Tarquinius  Priscus 
undertook  the  building  of  a  new  stone  wall  for  the  defence  of 
the  whole  of  the  new  quarters  of  the  city,  but  that  he  did  not 
live  to  finish  it.  The  design  was  carried  out  by  Servius 
Tullius,  who  also  constructed  the  enormous  agger  called  by 
his  name,  and  still  partly  remaining  at  the  back  of  the  Esqui- 
line,  Viminal  and  Quirinal  Hills.  Before  this  great  work  was 
accomphshed  we  must  suppose  that  each  suburb,  as  it  grew 
out  of  the  original  settlement,  was  defended  by  a  new  piece  of 
fortification,  but  these  fortifications  were,  as  Dionysius  de- 
scribes them,  only  temporary  and  hastily  erected  for  the  nonce. 
The  expressions  of  Livy  and  Aurelius  would  lead  us  also  to  the 
conclusion  that  they  were  not  of  stone,  but  probably  were 
intrenchments  of  earth.  Rome  then  became  the  capital  of 
Latium  ;  she  had  lately  united  all  her  citizens,  the  Montani, 
the  Collini,  and  the  other  freeholders  living  within  the  districts 
of  Servius  by  a  complete  military  organization,  and  her  powers 
were  directed  by  a  form  of  government  which  has  always 
proved  best  calculated  for  the  production  of  great  public 
works.  A  new  stone  wall  was  accordingly  planned  on  a  vast 
scale,  and  the  drainage  of  the  low-lying  parts  of  the  city  was 
effected  about  the  same  time  by  colossal  sewers.  The  king 
having  the  whole  control  of  the  finances  of  the  state  could 
appropriate  large  sums  of  money  for  works  of  public  utility, 
and  could  also  doubtless  command  the  labour  of  immense 
gangs  of  workmen.     The  Servian  walls  and  the  Cloacae  of 

o 


^'■^ 


discovered  in  the  depression  between  the  north-western  and 
south-eastern  parts  of  the  Aventine,  another  portion  upon  the 
Servian  Agger,  and  a  few  remnants  on  the  Quirinal  in  the 
Barberini  and  Colonna  Gardens/  no  remnants  of  the  Servian 
walls  are  now  to  be  seen,  and  we  have  to  infer  their  probable 
extent  from  the  nature  of  the  ground,  the  rough  estimate 
given  by  Dionysius  of  the  space  which  they  inclose,  and  the 

^  Bull,  dell'  Inst.  1855,  p.  87. 


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mms^iii' 


196 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


THE  AVENTINE  AND   C^LIAN    HILLS. 


197 


positions  of  the  gates  as  described  by  various  ancient  authors. 
It  may  be  safely  concluded  that,  wherever  it  was  possible, 
advantage  would  be  taken  of  the  sides  of  the  hills,  and  the 
wall  would  be  made  to  run  along  their  edges.  Thus  the 
course  of  the  wall  on  the  outer  side  of  the  Capitoline,  Quirinal, 
Esq ui line  and  north-eastern  part  of  the  Aventine  can  be 
ascertained  with  tolerable  certainty,  and  the  agger  serves  as 
a  guide  along  the  back  of  the  Viminal  and  Quirinal.  The 
principal  difficulty  hes  in  the  portions  between  the  Capitoline 
and  Aventine  along  the  river  bank,  in  the  space  to  the  south 
of  the  Caelian,  and  at  the  hill  of  S.  Saba  and  S.  Balbina, 
where  there  is  but  little  indication  in  the  nature  of  the  ground 
to  guide  us. 

In  the  time  of  Dionysius,  who  died  about  B.C.  10,  the  Servian 
wall  was  already  so  much  covered  with  buildings  of  various 
kinds,  that  he  speaks  of  it  as  difficult  to  trace,  and  therefore, 
naturally  enough,  we  find  at  the  present  day  that  nearly  the 
whole  has  disappeared  under  heaps  of  rubbish.  The  portion 
brought  to  light  in  1855  under  the  south-eastern  slope  of  the 
Aventine  was  accidentally  discovered  by  digging  in  the  vineyards 
not  far  from  the  Porta  S.  Paolo,  for  the  purpose  of  clearing 
the  ground  from  masses  of  brickwork.  This  portion,  some  of 
which  has  since  been  covered  with  earth  again,  was  104  feet 
in  length,  50  feet  high,  and  12  broad.  The  breadth  shows  the 
great  solidity  and  strength  of  the  construction.  The  original 
height  was  probably  greater,  as  Mr.  Braun  remarks,  and  a 
parapet  was  placed  upon  the  top.  Some  parts  of  this  ruin  are 
covered  with  reticulated  work,  and  on  others  great  masses  of 
masonry  have  been  placed  which  belonged  to  dwelling-houses. 
Mr.  J.  H.  Parker  has  since  been  able  to  clear  this  fragment  of 
wall,  thus  doing  a  very  great  service  to  Roman  archaeology. 
No  monumental  antiquities  have  been  found  in  these  excava- 
tions earlier  than  the  imperial  times.  A  stamp  bearing  an 
inscription  was  discovered  near  one  of  the  more  modern  arches, 
and  dates  from  the  reign  of  Trajan. 

At  the  time  when  these  walls  were  built,  the  stone  generally 
used  for  such  purposes  was  the  hard  tufa.  Tlie  greater  part 
of  the  Cloaca  Maxima,  and  the  remnants  of  these  Servian 
walls,  are  composed  of  this  material.  It  is  hewn  into  long 
rectangular  blocks,  which  are  placed  (in  builders'  phrase 
alternately   headers   and   stretchers)    sometimes   across   and 


sometimes  along  the  line  of  the  wall,  in  order  to  gain  greater 
strength.  No  cement  is  used,  but  the  stones  are  carefully 
fitted  together  and  regularly  shaped. 

It  must  here  be  observed  that  the  rectangular  shape  and 
horizontal  position  of  the  blocks  in  this  stonework  by  no 
means  disprove  its  high  antiquity.  It  is  true  that  the  so- 
called  Pelasgian  walls  are  built  in  a  totally  different  style,  for 
the  stones  in  them  are  polygonal.  But  this  difference  of  shape 
in  the  stones  arises  from  a  difference  in  the  material.  All  the 
so-called  Pelasgian  walls  in  Italy  are  built  of  a  stone  which 
naturally  breaks  into  polygonal  masses;  but  tufa  stone  is 
found  in  the  quarry  in  horizontal  layers,  and  is  most  easily 
cut  into  a  rectangular  shape.  The  inference  sometimes  drawn 
from  horizontally  laid  masonry  that  it  indicates  a  more  ad- 
vanced state  of  art  than  polygonal  cannot  be  relied  upon  as 
certain.  The  arch  in  this  ruin  is  of  a  later  date,  and  may  have 
been  an  embrasure  for  a  catapult.^ 

Porta  Capena. — The  situation  of  no  gate  in  the  Servian 
walls  can  be  determined  so  completely  as  that  of  the  Porta 
Capena.  We  know  that  part  of  the  Aqua  Marcia  passed  over 
it,  whence  it  was  called  the  dripping  gate  (Madida  Capena)  by 
Martial  and  Juvenal.  It  was  therefore  in  the  valley  below  the 
Caelian  Hill,  and  we  should,  judging  from  the  form  of  the 
ground,  naturally  place  it  where  the  hill,  on  which  S.  Balbina 
stands,  approaches  the  Caelian  most  nearly.  A  striking  con- 
firmation of  this  conjecture  has  been  discovered.  The  first 
milestone  on  the  Appian  Road  was  found  in  1584  in  the  first 
vineyard  beyond  the  present  Porta  S.  Sebastiano — the  Vigna 
Naro — and,  measuring  back  one  mile  from  it,  we  come  exactly 
to  this  spot.  This  milestone  is  now  placed  on  the  steps  leading 
up  to  the  Capitoline  Museum.  Milestones  and  horse-blocks 
were  erected  on  all  the  great  roads  by  Caius  Gracchus  before 
the  milliarium  aureum  was  put  up  in  the  Forum  by  Augustus, 
and  it  is  probable  that  the  distances  were  always  measured 
from  the  gates.  Mr.  Parker  carried  on  excavations  for  some 
time  to  find  the  exact  position  of  the  Porta  Capena,  and  he 
discovered  some  of  the  piers  of  the  aqueduct  which  passed 
over  the  gate  in  the  garden  of  the  Convent  of  S.  Gregorio. 
These  excavations  have  unfortunately  been  more  or  less  filled 
up  again. 

1  Abeken,  "  Mittelitalien,"  p.  143. 


198 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


Monte  Testaccio. — Near  the  Porta  S.  Paolo,  between  the 
Aventine  and  the  river,  stands  the  hill  called  Monte  Testaccio 
from  its  being  composed  almost  entirely  of  potsherds  mixed 
with  rubbish.  The  hill  is  150  feet  high,  and  one-third  of  a 
mile  in  circumference.  Many  conjectures  have  l)een  hazarded 
al)out  its  origin,  which  still,  however,  remains  a  mystery. 

The  hypothesis  which  has  gained  most  credit  rests  upon  a 
passage  in  Tacitus,  in  which  that  historian,  after  giving  an 
account  of  the  Neronian  fire,  proceeds  to  say  that  Nero 
intended  to  have  the  rubbish  carried  to  the  Ostian  marshes, 
and,  therefore,  gave  orders  that  the  corn- ships,  after  dis- 
charging their  freight  at  the  Emporium,  should  take  a  load 
of  rubbish  on  their  return  to  Ostia.  This  explanation  appears 
satisfactoiy  until  the  peculiar  composition  of  the  hill  is 
examined.  Nearly  the  whole  mass  consists  of  pieces  of  broken 
earthenware,  and  is  not  such  as  we  should  expe(-t  the  rubbish 
left  after  a  fire  to  he.  The  absence  of  bricks  may  perhaps  be 
ex]>lained  by  the  supposition  that  they  were  saved  in  order  to 
be  used  a  second  time ;  but  the  immense  quantity  of  potsherds 
still  remains  to  be  accounted  for.  Further,  it  is  said  that  a 
coin  of  Gallienus  has  been  found  in  such  a  position  on  the 
smaller  portion  of  the  hill  as  to  leave  no  doubt  that  the 
accumulation  of  that  part  could  not  have  been  anterior  to 
Gallienus.  A  medal  of  Constantine  has  also  been  found  in  the 
interior  of  the  larger  portion.  Bunsen's  explanation  that  the 
hill  is  composed  of  the  rubbish  cleared  away  by  Honorius 
when  he  restored  the  walls  of  Aurelian,  and  other  ingenious 
hypotheses  of  the  same  kind,  do  not  sufiiciently  account  for 
the  peculiar  composition  of  the  hill. 

M.  Keifferscheid,  in  a  paper  communicated  to  the  Roman 
Archaeological  Institute,  has  propounded  the  most  natural 
and  proper  solution  of  the  problem.^  He  observes  that  it  is 
not  necessary  to  go  farther  than  the  magazines  of  the  neigh- 
bouring Emporium  for  an  explanation  of  this  immense  mass 
of  jx)tsherds.  Every  kind  of  provisions  brought  to  Rome  in 
ancient  times  was  stored  in  earthenware  jars,  not  only  wine, 
but  com,  oil,  and  other  articles  of  commerce.  A  fire,  there- 
fore, which  consumed  any  part  of  the  Emporium  would  leave 
rubbish  composed  in  great  part  of  fragments  of  earthen  jars 

1  Bull,  dell'  Inst.  xxv.  85,  116;  xxxvii.  235. 


THE   AVENTINE   AND   C^LIAN   HILLS. 


199 


(dolia)  ;  and,  since  many  such  fires  must  have  taken  place  in 
the  course  of  ages,  and  immense  quantities  of  earthen  jars 
must  have  been  broken  in  the  process  of  unloading,  it  does 
not  seem  at  all  impossible  that  so  large  an  accumulation  of 
matter  should  have  taken  place.  At  Alexandria  and  at  Cairo 
similar  heaps  of  potsherds  are  to  be  seen  oujtside  the  walls, 
and  their  extent,  though  less,  as  might  be  expected,  than  that 
at  Rome,  is  such  as  to  create  astonishment  in  the  traveller's 
mind  when  he  sees  them  for  the  first  time.  An  attempt  has 
been  made  by  M.  Reifferscheid  to  determine  the  earliest  date 
at  which  we  can  suppose  this  gradual  deposition  of  potsherds 
to  have  taken  place,  but  the  data  upon  which  he  builds  his 
con(;lusion,  that  the  accumulation  forming  the  Monte  Testaccio 
first  began  to  be  deposited  in  the  time  of  the  decay  of  the 
Empire,  about  the  third  century,  are  not  by  any  means  such 
as  to  produce  conviction. 

Tomb  of  Cestius. — Near  the  Monte  Testaccio,  and  close 
to  the  Porta  S.  Paolo,  stands  a  pyramidal  monument,  measuring 
about  97  feet  on  each  side,  and  120  feet  in  height.  It  is 
placed  upon  a  square  basement  of  travertine,  and  the  rest  of 
the  building  is  of  rubble,  with  a  casing  of  white  marble.  It  is 
built  into  the  Aurelianian  Wall,  no  pains  having  been  taken  to 
avoid  the  injury  which  this  might  cause  to  the  building.  It 
has,  however,  suffered  but  little  from  this  except  in  appearance. 
The  ancient  entrance,  which  was  probably  on  the  north-east 
side,  has  been  walled  up.  No  trace  is  now  to  be  seen  of  it,  and 
the  present  entrance  on  the  north-west  was  made  in  1663.  The 
interior  consists  of  a  small  plastered  chamber  16  feet  long  by 
13,  and  12  feet  high,  the  comers  of  which  are  ornamented 
with  paintings  of  winged  genii.  No  coffin  or  sarcophagus 
was  found  when  the  tomb  was  opened,  but  the  inscription  on 
the  outside  gives  the  name  of  C.  Cestius,  the  son  of  L.  Cestius, 
of  the  Publilian  tribe,  as  the  person  who  was  buried  in  it.  It 
further  appears  that  this  C.  Cestius  had  been  Praetor  and 
Tribune  of  the  commons,  and  one  of  the  seven  epulones  who 
superintended  the  sacrificial  banquets  to  the  gods.  The  date 
of  his  burial  has  been  discovered  by  means  of  two  marble 
pedestals  containing  inscriptions  which  were  found  near  the 
pyramid.  On  one  of  these  the  foot  of  a  colossal  bronze  statue 
is  still  fixed.  They  show  that  C.  Cestius's  death  took  place 
in  the  time  of  M.  Agrippa,  and,  therefore,  of  the  Emperor 


THE  AVENTIXE  AND  C^LIAN   HILLS. 


201 


Augustus,  and  that  the  statues  were  erected  from  the  proceeds 
of  the  sale  of  some  costly  robes  of  cloth  of  gold  (attalica), 
which  Cestius  had  by  his  will  ordered  to  be  buried  with  him. 
Such  burial  being  forbidden  by  law,  the  robes  were  sold  a.nd 
the  statues  erected  from  the  proceeds  by  order  of  his  heirs. 
They  probably  stood  at  the  corners  of  the  pyramid.  Two 
fluted  Doric  pillars,  the  fragments  of  which  were  found  near 
the  spot,  have  now  been  placed  at  these  corners.  Cestius  may 
possibly  liave  been  the  same  person  who  is  mentioned  by 
Cicero  as  a  Roman  knight. 

Baths  of  Caracalla. — To  the  south-east  of  the  hills  of  S. 
Saba  and  S.  Balbina,  between  Aurelian's  walls  and  the  Via 
Appia,  lie  the  most  colossal  ruins  in  Rome,  covering  a  space 
each  side  of  which  measures  more  than  1,000  feet.  It  is 
certain,  from  the  arrangement  of  these  buildings,  that  they 
were  destined  for  public  baths  ;  and  as  tradition  and  the 
catalogue  of  the  twelfth  region  both  assign  the  name  of  the 
Thermae  Antoninianae  to  them,  and  the  style  of  the  masonry 
is  that  of  the  Antonine  era,  we  may  feel  satisfied  that  they 
belonged  to  the  baths  mentioned  by  Cassiodorus  and  Hiero- 
nymus  as  already  partially  built  by  Caracalla  in  the  year  a.d. 
216,  and  finished  by  Heliogabalus  and  Alexander  Severus.^ 

This  enormous  mass  of  building  consisted  of  a  central 
oblong  block,  containing  all  the  halls  and  chambers  appro- 
priated more  immediately  to  the  baths,  and  a  surrounding 
court,  the  sides  of  which  were  formed  by  gymnasia  and  other 
places  of  amusement,  and  the  area  of  which  was  laid  out 
in  gardens,  with  shrubberies,  ornamental  colonnades,  and 
fountains.  A  similar  arrangement  is  found  in  the  Thermae  of 
Titus  and  Diocletian. 

The  central  block  of  buildings  contained  four  immense 
halls  and  a  rotunda,  around  which  numerous  smaller  rooms 
were  grouped.  The  first  of  these  large  halls  (a)  was  entered 
from  the  north-eastern  side  by  two  wide  doorways.  Rows  of 
niches  for  sculpture  broke  the  broad  inner  surfaces  of  its  walls, 
and  it  communicated  with  the  chambers  on  each  side  by  open 
passages  filled  with  columns  of  splendid  marble  and  granite. 
The  floor  formed  an  immense  basin  shaped  hollow,  showing 
that  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  used  was  that  of  a  cold 


^  Hist.  Aug.  Car.  9. 


Hel.  17.    Al.  Sev.  25. 


recesses  at  lx)th  ends.  The 
richest  marbles.  The  four 
hot  baths,  and  were  fitted 
kinds  for  bathers.  In  the 
enormous  porphyry  basins, 
in  the  Museum  at  Naples. 


floor  of  this  was  paved  with  the 
lateral  circular  recesses  formed 
with  steps  and  seats  of  various 
recesses  at  the  ends  stood  two 
one  of  which  is  now  preserved 
This  hall  was  probably  the  tepi- 


H 


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CO 


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Oi 

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'ml 


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^ 


204 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


dariiim,  and  had  a  very  lofty  roof  supported  by  eight  granite 
pillars  of  colossal  size,  and  by  a  network  of  brazen  or  copper 
rods.  One  of  the  pillars  was  given  to  Duke  Cosmo  I.  by 
Pius  IV.,  and  stands  in  the  Piazza 'di  Trinita  in  Florence. 
The  smaller  chamljers  (c)  (d)  (e),  at  the  western  and  southern 
angles  of  the  tepidarium,  contained  the  apparatus  for  heating 
water. 

These  chambers,  the  purpose  of  which  is  unknown,  separate 
the  tepidarium  from  the  rotunda  (/).  The  position  of  this 
latter  and  its  shape  would  seem  to  indicate  that  it  was  a 
laconicum  or  hot-air  room,  but  the  state  of  the  ruins  is  at  pre- 
sent such  as  to  preclude  any  positive  assertion  as  to  its  purix)se. 

On  each  side  of  the  above-mentioned  three  chambers  is  a 
similar  range  of  halls.  The  south-eastern  wing  (g),  being  the 
most  perfect,  serves  as  the  better  guide  to  the  arrangement  of 
this  part  of  the  building.  We  pass  through  two  chambers 
(h)  (i)  containing  fine  mosaic  pavement,  and  then  reach  a 
large  long  hall  (g),  which  apparently  consisted  of  three  aisles 
and  two  semicircular  tribunes,  divided  from  each  other  by 
rows  of  columns,  somewhat  in  the  manner  of  a  basilica.  A 
considerable  portion  of  the  mosaics  on  the  floor  of  this  hall 
have  been  laid  bare  and  may  be  seen  amongst  the  ruins  of  the 
roof  and  upper  part.  In  the  larger  tribune  was  discovered 
the  great  mosaic  pavement  of  the  Athletes,  now  preserved  in 
the  Lateran  Museum,  whence  it  has  been  inferred  that  this 
side  hall  as  well  as  the  corresponding  one  on  the  north-west 
side  were  used  as  gymnasia  or  ball  courts  (sphseristeria),  with 
galleries  for  spectators.  The  purpose  of  the  rooms  situated 
on  each  side  of  the  rotunda  is  not' known,  but  it  has  been  con- 
jectured that  they  were  additional  tepidaria,  since  even  the 
magnificent  central  tepidarium  is  hardly  large  enough  to» 
furnish  the  accommodation  spoken  of  by  Olympiodorus,  who 
stated  that  there  were  1,600  marble  seats  for  bathers  in  the 
Antonine  Baths. ^ 

There  were  numerous  chambers  in  the  upper  stories  in  and 
about  these  large  halls,  to  which  the  staircases  led,  one  of 
which  has  been  restored.  These  were  perhaps  used  as  libraries, 
picture  galleries,  and  museums  of  curiosities. 

The  whole  north-eastern  side  of  the  court  which  surrounded 

•  Olymp.  ap.  Phot.  Bibl.  80,  p.  63.     Bekker. 


THE   AVENTINE   AND    CJilLIAN    HILLS. 


205 


these  central  halls  consists  of  ranges  of  rooms  built  of  brick 
and  opening  outwards.  Many  of  these  are  stiil  standing,  and 
the  traces  of  an  upper  story  are  to  be  seen  over  some  of 
them  (j,  j).  Different  opinions  have  been  held  as  to  their 
use.  Some  writers  think  that  they  were  offices  and  rooms 
for  the  slaves  belonging  to  the  establishment,  others  that 
they  were  separate  baths  for  women.  The  principal  entrance 
to  the  inclosure  was  in  the  centre  of  this  side  of  the  court. 

On  the  north-western  side  of  the  court  the  remains  can  be 
traced  of  a  large  shallow  tribune  in  the  shape  of  a  segment  of 
a  circle  and  surrounded  by  a  vaulted  corridor  or  cloister  (k). 
Within  this  were  three  large  apartments,  probably  used  as 
lecture  and  conversation  rooms.  The  rest  of  this  side  has 
entirely  disappeared,  as  has  also  the  opposite  south-eastern 
side  with  the  exception  of  one  of  the  large  apartments. 
These  two  sides  of  the  court  probably  correspond  in  the  same 
way  as  the  wings  of  the  central  building. 

The  fourth  side  of  the  court  was  occupied  by  an  immense 
reservoir  of  water  divided  into  numerous  compartments  (I),  in 
front  of  which  was  the  cavea  of  a  stadium  (w),  and  on  each 
side  two  large  halls,  possibly  used  as  dressing-rooms  and 
gymnasia  {n,  n). 

The  reservoir  was  supplied  with  water  by  a  branch  aqueduct 
from  the  Aqua  Marcia. 

The  numerous  magnificent  works  of  art,  sculptures,  bronzes, 
lamps,  cameos,  and  coins,  which  have  from  time  to  time  been 
discovered  in  these  ruins,  are  now  dispersed  through  the 
museums  of  Italy.  Some  of  the  larger  sculptures,  including 
the  Hercules  of  Olykon  and  the  group  called  the  Toro  Farnese 
are  in  the  Naples  Museum,  and  two  large  porphyry  fountain- 
basins  are  in  the  Piazza  Farnese  at  Rome. 

Some  excavations  have  been  lately  made  in  the  Vigna 
Guidi,  a  vineyard  on  the  south-east  side  of  the  Court  of  these 
Thermae.  The  ruins  of  a  large  house  have  been  found  which 
had  been  demolished  and  covered  with  earth,  to  make  room 
for  the  Thermae.  Nothing  is  known  of  the  history  of  this 
house,  but  various  conjectures  have  been  hazarded,  taken 
from  the  catalogues  of  the  Eegionaries. 

Tomb  of  the  Cornelian  Scipios. — The  vast  Necropolis 
of  Rome  stretched  along  both  sides  of  the  Appian  Road  from 
the  Porta  Capena  nearly  as  far  as  the  Alban  Hills. 


206 


ANX'IENT   ROME. 


Conspicuous  among  these  burial-places  is  the  tomb  which 
remained  in  possession  of  the  great  family  of  the  Cornelian 
Scipios  for  nearly  four  centuries.^  The  entrance  to  this  is 
near  the  gate  of  one  of  the  vineyards,  on  the  north-east  side  of 
the  Appian  Road,  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  yards  from  the 
Porta  S.  Sebastiano.  The  tomb  itself  consists  of  a  number  of 
passages  roughly  hewn  in  the  tufa  stone,  as  the  catacombs 
are,  without  any  apparent  plan  of  arrangement.  Unfortu- 
nately, the  original  state  of  the  catacomb  has  been  so  altered 
by  the  substructions  which  have  been  found  necessary  to  sup- 
port the  roof  that  it  can  hardly  be  recognized  at  the  present 
day,  and  the  sarcophagi  and  inscriptions  have  been  removed, 
and  placed  for  greater  security  in  the  Vatican  Museum. 
Those  now  seen  in  situ  are  modern  copies.  Anciently  there 
were  two  entrances,  one  from  the  Via  Appia,  and  the  other 
from  the  road  which  here  unites  the  Via  Appia  and  Via 
Latina.  The  present  entrance  has  been  cut  for  the  convenience 
of  access  from  the  Appian  Koad. 

Columbaria. — The  catacomb  of  the  Scipios  differs  from 
most  of  the  other  burial-places  which  suiTound  it,  on  account 
of  the  retention  by  the  gens  Cornelia  of  the  old  Latin  custom 
of  burying  in  coffins,  instead  of  burning  the  corpse  of  the  de- 
ceased. Most  of  the  burying-places  on  the  Monte  d'Oro  are 
arranged  in  the  manner  called  a  columbarian  by  the  Romans, 
from  the  resemblance  of  the  niches  in  it  to  the  holes  in  a 
pigeon-house.*  Four  of  these  columbaria  have  been  excavated 
in  the  Vigna  Codini,  near  the  Porta  S.  Sebastiano,  and  are 
now  to  be  seen  in  almost  perfect  preservation.  They  consist 
of  a  square  pit  roofed  over,  and  entered  by  a  staircase.  The 
roof  is  supported  by  a  massive  square  central  column,  and  the 
whole  of  the  sides  of  the  pit  and  of  the  central  column  are 
pierced  with  semicircular  niches,  containing  earthenware  jars 
filled  with  ashes.  In  one  of  the  columbaria  in  the  Vigna 
Codini  there  is  room  for  909  jars.  Most  of  the  names  which 
are  inscribed  above  each  niche  upon  a  marble  tablet  are  those 
of  imperial  freed  men,  or  servants  of  great  families  or  public 
officers,  and  other  persons  of  the  middle  class  of  life,  and  are 
therefore  of  little  historical  interest.  The  ashes  of  some  few 
of  a  somewhat  higher  grade,  are  placed  in  small  marble  sarco- 

^  Cor.  Insc.  Lat.  vol.  i.  p.  12. 
*  Marini,  Frat.  Arv.  p.  674. 


THE   AVENTIXE   AND   C^LIAN   HILLS. 


207 


phagi  or  urns,  but  no  persons  of  distinguished  rank  appear  to 
have  been  buried  in  this  way.  There  are,  however,  few  places 
in  Rome  where  the  ordinary  manners  and  customs  of  the 
ancient  Romans  are  more  vividly  placed  before  the  eye  than 
here,  and  the  very  insignificance  of  some  of  the  details  ex- 
hibited is  somewhat  striking.  In  one  corner  we  find  the  ashes 
of  a  lady's  maid  attached  to  one  of  the  imperial  princesses  ;  in 
another,  those  of  the  royal  barber ;  and  in  another,  a  favourite 
lapdog  has  been  admitted  to  take  his  place  among  his  mis- 
tress's other  faithful  servants. 

Arch  of  Drusus. — Not  so  far  from  these  columbaria,  and 
close  to  the  Porta  S.  Sebastiano,  the  Via  Appia  is  spanned 
by  a  half  ruinous  archway,  of  which  little  but  the  core 
remains,  the  marble  casing  having  long  been  torn  off.  It 
was  probably  originally  ornamented  with  eight  columns,  two 
only  of  which  now  remain  standing  on  the  side  next  the 
modern  gateway.  These  have  shafts  of  Numidian  marble 
(giallo  antico),  and  composite  capitals  with  Corinthian  bases. 

Upon  the  top  of  this  arch  is  a  brick  ruin  apparently 
belonging  to  the  Middle  Ages,  as  the  style  of  building  is 
similar  to  that  called  opera  saracenica  by  the  Italians.  It 
was  probably  a  part  of  a  fortified  tower,  placed  upon  the  arch, 
resembling  that  which  formerly  surmounted  the  Arch  of  Titus. 

On  each  side  of  the  arch  are  some  remains  of  the  branch 
aqueduct,  which  brought  water  from  the  Aqua  Marcia  to  the 
Baths  of  Caracalla,  and  it  is  natural  to  conclude  that  this 
arch  carried  the  aqueduct  over  the  Via  Appia,  and  was  built 
by  Caracalla  for  that  purpose.  The  costly  nature  of  the 
materials  used  has,  however,  induced  most  topographers  to 
reject  this  explanation,  and  to  assume  that  the  arch  is  one  of 
the  three  mentioned  by  the  Notitia  in  the  first  region,  as 
built  in  honour  respectively  of  Drusus,  Trajan,  and  Verus. 
The  composite  capitals  seem  to  point  to  the  earliest  date  of 
these  three,  and  as  the  building  bears  a  resemblance  to  a 
representation  of  the  Arch  of  Drusus,  which  has  been  dis- 
covered upon  a  coin,^  the  arch  has  been  thought  identical  with 
that  erected  to  Drusus,  the  father  of  Claudius,  mentioned  by 
Suetonius. 

Sessorium. — Two   ruins  standing  near  the  Basilica  of 

^  Eckhel,  Num.  Vet.  ii.  6.  176. 


■rt- 


The  Arch  of  Drusu^,  so  called. 


THE  AYENTINE   AND   CJELIAN   HILLS. 


209 


S.  Croce  in  Gerusalemme  may  be  reckoned  as  belonging  to 
the  district  of  the  Caelian  Hill.  They  are  called  by  the  topo- 
graphers the  Sessorium  and  the  Amphitheatrum  Castrense. 
The  first  of  these  consists  of  a  ruin  built  of  brick,  containing 
a  large  semicircular  apse  with  round-headed  windows,  from 
which  two  walls  project.  No  excavations  having  been  made 
in  order  to  ascertain  the  further  extent  of  the  buildings,  any 
opinion  formed  as  to  their  purpose  must  necessarily  be  highly 
uncertain.  The  most  probable  conjecture  which  has  been 
made  is  that  they  are  the  ruins  of  a  tribunal  called  the 
Sessorium.  Such  a  court  of  justice  is  mentioned  by  the 
Scholiast  on  Horace  as  situated  on  the  Esquiline  near  the 
place  where  criminals  and  paupers  were  buried.  Further 
notices  of  the  same  name  as  applied  to  an  edifice  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  Basilica  of  S.  Croce  are  to  be  found  in 
Anastasius's  Life  of  S.  Silvester,  and  in  a  fragmentary  history 
of  certain  passages  in  the  Life  of  Theodoric,  printed  at  the 
end  of  the  work  of  Ammianus  Marcellinus.  Theodoric  is  there 
said  to  have  ordered  a  criminal  to  be  beheaded  in  palatio  quod 
appellatur  Sessorium,  using  the  same  phrase  which  Anastasius 
also  employs. 

The  authors  of  the  Beschreibung  Roms  supposed  that  this 
ruin  was  the  Nymphaeum  Alexandri  of  the  Notitia,  but  this 
has  been  disproved  by  Becker,  who  shows  that  the  Nymphaeum 
was  near  the  Villa  Altieri. 

The  opinion  that  it  was  the  Temple  of  Spes  Vetus,  which 
Frontinus  places  near  the  commencement  of  the  branch 
aqueduct  of  Nero,  is  more  likely  to  be  correct,  but  the  shape 
of  the  building,  so  far  as  it  is  at  present  known,  does  not 
agree  with  such  a  supposition.  The  ruin?  are  commonly 
known  by  the  name  of  the  Temple  of  Venus  and  Cupid,  a 
name  which  was  given  to  them  from  the  discovery  of  a  statue 
near  them  representing  a  female  figure.  But  it  is  a  fatal 
objection  to  this  that  the  name  of  the  Roman  matron  (Sal- 
lustia)  whose  statue  was  supposed  to  be  that  of  Venus,  has 
been  discovered  to  be  engraved  upon  the  pedestal.  The  statue 
may  be  seen  in  the  Museo  Pio  Clementino. 

Amphitheatrum  Castrense. — On  the  other  side  of  the 
Basilica,  and  forming  a  part  of  Aurelian's  wall,  is  a  portion 
of  an  amphitheatre.  The  interior,  now  used  as  a  garden, 
may  be  seen  by  entering  the  door  on  tlie  right  hand  of  the 


210 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


basilica  The  larger  axis  of  the  amphitheatre  was  apparently 
about  110  yards,  and  the  shorter  85  yards  or  thereabouts.  It 
18  entirely  constructed  of  brick,  even  to  the  Corinthian 
capitals  which  ornament  the  exterior,  and  the  workmanship 
shows  it  to  belong  to  the  best  age  of  Roman  architectural  art 
Ihe  second  tier  of  arches  has  almost  entirely  disappeared,  and 
ot  the  lowest  tier  only  those  are  left  which  are  built  into  the 
city  wall.  But  to  suppose,  as  Becker  does,  that  it  was  not  an 
amphitheatre,  but  the  vivarium,  where  the  wild  beasts  used 

vi  iP°^^^  "^f^  ^'^P*'  ^^^"^^  ^"*  ^^  ^^^  question.  The  only 
difficulty  IS  to  determine  what  the  special  history  and  purpose 
of  the  building,  manifestly  an  amphitheatre,  placed  so  far 
from  the  populous  parts  of  the  city,  was.  The  Notitia  here 
comes  to  our  aid.  for  it  records  the  existence  of  an  amphi- 
theatrura  castrense  in  the  fifth  region  ;  and  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  we  have  here  the  remains  of  the  amphitheatre 
built  for  the  entertainment  of  the  praetorian  troops  quartered 
in  a  fortified  camp  beyond  the  Porta  S.  Lorenzo.  Aurelian 
made  use  of  the  outer  side  of  the  building  as  a  part  of  his 
walls,  and  it  is  most  probable  that  when  Constantine  pulled 
down  the  inner  portion  of  the  praetorian  camp,  he  also 
de^royed  the  greater  part  of  this  amphitheatre. 

House  of  the  Laterani.— In  consequence  of  the  sinking 
of  part  of  the  wall  which  supports  the  apse  of  the  Basilica  of 
iQ'yi  'I'^l'^'i*  ^''^^''^^^ona  became  necessary  in  the  year 
1» 76  which  disclosed  the  foundations  of  some  ancient  build- 
ings between  the  baptistery  and  the  Via  della  Ferratella,  and 
of  some  others  under  the  apse  itself.  These  were  carefully 
examined,  and  it  became  evident  that  they  belonged  to  the 
extended  rums  of  a  large  villa,  probably  that  called  the 
ilouse  of  the  Laterani,  which  was  occupied  and  enlarged  by 
the  emperors  of  the  second  and  third  centuries,  and  finally 
given  by  Constantine  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome.  The  House  of 
t^sTite    ""  mentioned  by  Julius  Capitolinus.  was  probably  on 

Claudian  Aqueduct.— Not  far  from  the  Sessorium,  and 
spnngmg  out  of  the  angle  of  the  wall  close  to  the  Porta  Mae- 
giore.  a  series  of  lofty  arches  begins  which  extends  through- 
out  the  whole  length  of  the  Caelian  Hill.  This  is  a  branch 
aqueduct  of  the  Aqua  Claudia,  built  by  Nero  to  supply  the 
Caelian  and  Aveiitine  Hills  at  a  higher  level  than  the  Aqua 


THE   AVENTINE  AND   CAELIAN    HILLS. 


211 


Marcia  and  Aqua  Julia,  on  which  they  had  previously  de- 
pended for  their  supply.  It  passed  over  the  road  leading 
from  the  Porta  Maggiore  to  the  Basilica  of  S.  Croce,  and 
thence  ran  along  the  higher  ground,  through  the  vineyards 
of  the  Scala  Santa,  whence  it  skirted  the  Via  di  S.  Stefano, 
and,  at  the  Arch  of  Dolabella,  was  divided  into  three  branches, 
one  of  which  crossed  the  valley  to  the  Palatine,  the  second 
ran  towards  the  edge  of  the  hill  over  the  Coliseum,  and  a 
third  towards  the  Porta  Capena. 

Arch  of  Dolabella. — The  arch  of  Dolabella  stands  a 
little  to  the  north-west  of  the  Piazza  della  Navicella,  and 
spans  the  road  leading  down  from  thence  into  the  valley 
between  the  Caelian  and  Palatine,  formerly  called  the  Clivus 
Scauri.  The  archway  consists  of  a  single  arch  of  travertine, 
without  any  ornamentation,  but  carrying  an  inscription  to  the 
effect  that  Publius  Cornelius  Dolabella,  when  consul,  and 
Caius  Julius  Silanus,  when  Flamen  Martialis,  erected  the 
arch  by  order  of  the  Senate.  The  consulship  of  this  Dola- 
bella falls  in  the  reign  of  Augustus  a.d.  10,  and  therefore  the 
arch  can  originally  have  had  no  connection  with  the  Neronian 
aqueduct.  It  is  possible,  however,  as  Becker  and  Reber  sug- 
gest, that  the  arch  may  have  been  originally  built  to  carry 
the  Aqua  Marcia  and  Julia,  which,  as  we  know  from  Fronti- 
nus,  supplied  the  Caelian  before  the  building  of  the  Neronian 
branch  of  the  Aqua  Claudia.^  On  one  side  the  Arch  of 
Dolabella  is  still  completely  hidden  by  the  brickwork  of  the 
Neronian  arches,  and  the  other  side  was  probably  covered  in 
a  similar  manner  until  after  1670,  and  we  find  no  mention  of 
this  arch  in  Donatus,  who  could  not  have  omitted  to  notice  it 
in  his  description  of  the  Neronian  aqueduct  had  it  been 
visible  in  his  time. 

Navicella. — The  marble  representation  of  a  ship,  which 
stands  now  in  the  Piazza  della  Navicella  and  gives  its  name 
to  the  place,  was  probably  a  votive  offering  to  Jupiter  Redux, 
and  there  may  be  some  connection  between  these  and  the 
Castra  Peregrinorum,  as  having  perhaps  been  the  place  where 
the  troops  employed  on  foreign  service  were  quartered.  An 
inscription  seems  to  allude  to  this  connection  between  the 
Temple  of  Jupiter  Redux  and  the  camp. 


1   V 


Frontin.  76. 


II 


THE   AVENTINE   AND   C^LIAN   HILLS. 


213 


Houses  on  the  Caelian. — In  the  time  of  the  empire 
many  palaces  of  the  richer  classes  stood  upon  the  Caelian. 
Among  them  we  have  distinct  mention  of  the  houses  of 
Claudius  Centumalus,  which  was  visible  from  the  Arx,  of 
Mamurra,  and  of  Annius  Verus,  in  which  Marcus  Aurelius 
was  born.  Tetricus  also,  the  unsuccessful  rival  of  Aurelian, 
built  a  magnificent  residence  on  the  Caelian,  in  which,  on 
his  readmission  to  the  emperor's  favour,  he  entertained 
Aurelian. 

Palace  of  Commodus. — It  seems  probable,  as  Bunsen 
has  conjectured,  that  the  Vectilian  Palace  in  which  Com- 
modus lived,  occupied  the  part  of  the  Caelian  next  to  the 
Coliseum.  The  ruins  there  consist  of  arches  of  travertine, 
forming  a  rectangular  space  upon  the  northern  end  of  the 
hill.  They  are  massively  constructed,  so  as  to  bear  a  great 
superincumbent  weight,  and  would  be  in  every  way  suitable 
for  the  terraces  of  a  large  imperial  villa  such  as  Commodus 
may  have  built,  when,  as  Lampridius  tells  us,  he  removed 
from  the  Palatine,  where  he  found  himself  unable  to  sleep, 
to  the  house  of  Vectilius  on  the  Caelian.  He  was  afterwards 
murdered  there.  The  position  may  have  pleased  him  from 
its  immediate  vicinity  to  the  Coliseum,  where  he  was  so  fond 
of  superintending  the  exhibitions,  and  displaying  his  own 
skill  in  killing  wild  animals.  The  story  that  he  had  an 
underground  passage  made  from  his  villa  to  the  Coliseum  is 
also  a  strong  confirmation  of  the  conjecture  of  Bunsen,  and 
some  additional  probability  is  given  to  it  by  the  course  of  the 
branch  aqueduct  which  leads  from  the  Arch  of  Dolabella  in 
the  direction  of  this  garden,  and  would  certainly  be  required 
to  supply  the  luxuries  of  a  large  Roman  j)alace. 


Arch  of  Dolabella. 


CHAPTER   IX. 


THE    GEOLOGY    OF    ROME. 


The  geological  strata  found  on  the  site  of  Rome  and  in  its 
immediate  neighbourhood  divide  themselves  into  three  prin- 
cipal groups.  The  oldest  of  these  is  a  marine  formation,  and 
exhibits  itself  upon  the  Vatican,  Janiculum,  and  Monte  Mario. 
The  second,  of  which  all  the  hills  on  the  eastern  bank  and 
the  district  of  the  Campagna  are  composed,  is  of  volcanic 
origin,  and  consists  chiefly  of  beds  of  tufaceous  matter  erupted 
from  submarine  volcanoes  and  more  or  less  solidified.  The 
third,  which  appears  in  the  hollows  of  the  Tiber  valley,  is  a 
fresh-water  formation,  and  is  found  on  the  slope  of  the  hills 
on  both  banks  of  the  river. 

Marine  Formation. — The  oldest  of  these  three  groups 
belongs  to  the  division  of  the  tertiary  period,  called  by  Lyell 
the  older  pleiocene,  as  having  had  a  fauna  and  flora  in  which 
the  greater  number  of  species  were  identical  with  those  now 
living  on  the  earth.  These  strata  are  of  marine  formation, 
and  are  similar  to  those  which  extend  over  a  great  breadth  of 
Italy  on  both  flanks  of  the  Apennine  mountains,  reaching  as 
far  south  as  the  point  of  Reggio  in  Calabria.  Their  lower 
bed  consists  of  a  bluish-grey  clayey  marl,  which  will  be  found 
in  the  valley  between  the  Janiculum  and  the  Vatican.  Its 
marine  origin  is  sufficiently  proved  by  the  fossils  found  in  it, 
and  the  remains  of  sea- weed.  This  bed  of  clay  is  of  a  plastic 
nature,  and  is  still  used  for  making  pottery,  as  it  was  in  the 
time  of  Juvenal.  Above  it  lies  a  stratum  of  yellow  calcareous 
sand,  which  sometimes  takes  the  form  of  loose  sand  with 
boulders,  sometimes  of  a  stratified  arenaceous  rock,  and  some- 
times of  a  rough  conglomerate.  This  may  be  seen  outside 
the  Porta  Angelica,  on  the  left,  under  the  walls  of  the  city, 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  ROME. 


215 


and  in  the  Belvedere  Gardens  on  the  Vatican  Hill.  The 
Church  of  S.  Pietro  in  Montorio  is  said  to  derive  its  name 
Montorio,  monte  aureo,  from  the  yellow  colour  of  this  sand. 

On  Monte  Mario  an  abundance  of  fossil  shells,  of  the 
Ostrea  hippopus  and  other  varieties  of  sea  shells,  may  be 
seen,  plainly  indicating  the  marine  origin  of  this  formation. 

The  only  places  within  the  actual  walls  of  Rome  where 
these  tertiary  marine  strata  are  to  be  found,  are  the  Vatican 
and  the  Janiculum.  At  the  base  of  the  Capitoline,  in  the 
subterranean  vaults  of  the  Ospidale  della  Consolazione,  under 
the  volcanic  rock  which  forms  the  upper  part  of  the  hill, 
Brocchi  found  a  stratum  of  calcareous  rock  and  clay,  which 
he  affirms  to  be  of  marine  origin,  and  to  resemble  the  lime- 
stone of  the  Apennines. 

Volcanic  Formation. — The  second  group  of  strata  found 
on  the  site  of  Rome  is  one  which  is  not  confined  to  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Rome,  but  is  most  extensively  spread  over  the 
whole  of  the  Campagna,  the  district  of  Campania,  and  a  con- 
siderable part  of  southern  Italy.  The  great  mass  of  the 
Capitoline,  Palatine,  Aventine,  Esquiline,  Caelian,  Viminal, 
Quirinal,  and  Pincian  Hills,  is  composed  of  this  formation. 
Geologists  give  it  the  general  name  of  tufa,  and  divide  it  into 
two  kinds,  the  stony  and  the  granular.  It  is  distinguished 
from  lava  by  not  having  flowed  in  a  liquid  state  from  the 
volcano,  and  is  a  mechanical  conglomerate  of  scoriae,  ashes, 
and  other  volcanic  products  which  have  been  carried  to  some 
distance  from  the  crater  of  eruption,  and  then  consolidated  by 
some  chemical  rearrangement  of  their  constituent  elements. 
The  harder  kind  of  tufa,  the  tufa  litoide,  is  a  reddish  brown, 
or  tawny  stone,  with  orange-coloured  spots.  These  spots  are 
embedded  fragments  of  scoriaceous  lava.  It  is  hard  enough 
to  be  used  as  a  building  stone,  and  has  been  quarried  largely 
under  the  Aventine  Hill  near  S.  Saba,  at  Monte  Verde,  on 
the  southern  end  of  the  Janiculum,  and  at  other  places  near 
Rome,  as  at  Torre  Pignatara  on  the  Via  Labicana,  at  the 
bridge  over  the  Anio,  on  the  Via  Nomentana,  and  at  the 
Tarpeian  rock. 

This  tufaceous  stone  presents  itself  in  very  thick  banks, 
traversed  by  long  vertical  and  oblique  fissures,  probably  pro- 
duced by  the  contraction  of  the  mass  on  passing  from  a  humid 
and  soft  to  a  drv  and  hard  state.     The  Arch  of  the  Cloaca 


216 


ANCIENT    ROME. 


Maxima,  near  S.  Giorgio  in  Velabro,  is  built  of  this  stone, 
and  the  inner  part  of  the  substruction  of  the  so-called  tabu- 
larium  on  the  Capitol.  Portions  of  the  Servian  wall  were 
also  built  of  it,  and  many  stones  which  were  taken  from  this 
wall  are  to  be  seen  at  the  present  day  in  the  walls  of  Aurelian, 
near  the  gate  of  S.  Lorenzo ;  and  others  have  been  laid  bare 
by  the  railway  excavations  in  the  Servian  Agger.  Brick- 
shaped  masses  of  it  are  found  in  the  ambulacra  of  the  Theatre 
of  Marcellus,  so  that  the  use  of  it  must  not  be  restricted  to 
the  earliest  times  of  Roman  architecture.  In  fact,  several 
buildings  of  the  Middle  Ages  in  or  near  Rome  consist  of  this 
stone,  as  may  be  seen  at  the  Fortress  Graetani,  near  the  Tomb 
of  Csecilia  Metella,  and  in  the  large  tower  at  the  side  of  the 
palace  of  the  Senator.  The  granular  tufa,  now  called  pozzo- 
lana,  was  used  for  mortar  and  cement. 

Fresh-^vater  Formation. — Fresh-water  formations  cover 
the  bottoms  of  all  the  valleys  in  the  district  of  Rome  and  in 
the  whole  of  the  Campus  Martins,  and  ascend  to  a  consider- 
able height  on  the  flanks  of  the  hills  and  into  the  Campagna. 
They  consist  chiefly  of  sand,  clay,  gravel,  and  the  stone  called 
travertine,  and  of  tufa  beds  which  have  been  disturbed  and 
then  re-deix)sited.  This  re-deposited  tufa  has  been  the  sub- 
ject of  some  controversy.  It  was  at  one  time  thought  to 
indicate  that  the  lower  tufa  was  also  a  fresh- water  deposit, 
since  it  is  sometimes  found  overlying  the  fresh-water  forma- 
tions. But  no  doubt  now  remains  that  it  must  have  been 
formed  by  a  re-arrangement  in  fresh  water  of  previously  de- 
posited marine  tufa  beds.  The  water  of  the  Tiber,  at  the 
time  when  these  fluviatile  formations  took  place,  stood  at 
such  a  height  as  to  leave  deposits  upon  the  intermontium  of 
the  Capitol,  and  as  high  as  the  Church  of  S.  Isidoro  on  the 
Pincian,  and  it  must  have  partially  removed  and  shifted  the 
previously  existing  light  and  porous  volcanic  soil  of  the  sea- 
bottom.  Even  the  top  of  the  Pincian  was  covered  by  this 
fresh  water;  for  modules  of  calcareous  matter,  such  as  are 
deposited  in  fresh  water  alone,  were  found  in  digging  the 
excavations  for  the  fountain  on  the  public  promenade. 

The  surface  of  the  broad  river  which  then  existed,  seems, 
in  fact,  to  have  been  at  from  130  to  140  feet  above  the  present 
surface  level  of  the  Tiber,  relatively  to  the  level  of  the  land, 
and  its  water  must  have  been  more  surcharged  with  alluvium, 


THE   GEOLOGY  OF   ROME. 


217 


derived  from  sources  with  which   the   present   river   is   no 
longer  connected. 

Among  the  fluviatile  deposits,  argillaceous  marl  beds  now 
play  an  important  part.  They  intercept  the  water  as  it 
descends  from  the  hills,  and  impede  its  descent  to  the  river, 
thus  furnishing  supplies  to  the  wells  in  Rome,  but  rendering 
the  soil  less  dry  and  healthy.  The  greater  portion  of  these 
strata  consist  of  a  mixture  of  sand  and  clay.  The  ridge  be- 
tween the  Forum  and  the  Coliseum,  on  which  the  Arch  of 
Titus  stands,  is  formed  almost  entirely  of  these  mixed  strata 
of  clay  and  sand.  To  prove  the  fresh-water  origin  of  these 
deposits,  we  need  only  refer  to  the  modules  of  travertine  and 
the  shells  of  lacustrine  animals  which  they  contain.  Such 
species  of  fresh-water  shell-fish  could  not  live  in  turbid  and 
rapid  water  like  that  of  the  Tiber  as  it  now  is,  and  we  must 
therefore  conclude  from  their  presence  that  the  waters  of  the 
Tiber  valley  where  such  fossils  are  found  were  once  in  a 
semi- stagnant  state.  That  there  was  also  a  period  of  violent 
movement  during  the  prevalence  of  this  lacustrine  era  is 
testified  by  the  quantities  of  matter  brought  from  a  distance 
and  accumulated  at  considerable  altitudes,  and  by  the  size 
of  the  pebbles  and  boulders  which  have  been  rolled  along  by 
the  stream.  But  before  a  more  accurate  investigation  of 
facts  shall  have  been  made,  it  will  be  impossible  to  distinguish 
these  two  periods  of  stagnation  and  rapid  movement  from 
each  other. 

Tiber  Water. — The  river  water  has  no  longer  the  power 
which  it  once  possessed  of  depositing  the  travertine  which  we 
find  lying  in  thick  beds  upon  the  slopes  of  some  of  the  hills 
of  Rome,  and  from  which  the  larger  ruins  are  all  built.  This 
travertine  is  formed  from  carbonate  of  lime  which  the  waters 
take  up  as  they  pass  through  the  soil  containing  it.  In  order 
to  give  the  water  the  power  of  holding  this  carbonate  of  lime 
in  solution,  a  certain  quantity  of  carbonic  acid  gas  must  be 
present  in  it.  When  by  means  of  the  rapid  movement  of  the 
water  or  from  other  causes  this  gas  becomes  disengaged,  it 
leaves  the  carbonate  of  lime  behind  in  the  shape  of  a  hard 
stony  deposit.  This  natural  process  of  petrifaction  is  familiar 
to  all  who  have  seen  the  Falls  of  the  Anio  at  Tivoli,  and  the 
way  in  which  the  artificial  canals  of  running  water  in  that 
neighbourhood  are  choked  by  limestone  concretions,  and  it 


mav  be  seen  in  all  vessels  made  use  of  to  boil  water  which  is 
impregnated  with  lime.  The  more  violent  the  agitation  of 
the  water  the  more  rapid  is  the  disengagement  of  the  carbonic 
acid  gas,  and  the  consequent  settlement  of  the  lime.  This 
process  is  accompanied,  in  most  places  where  it  can  be  seen, 
by  the  presence  of  sulphuretted  hydrogen,  which  produces  a 
white  colour  in  the  water  by  depositing  the  sediment  called 
gesso  by  the  Italians.  Hence  an  explanation  of  the  ancient 
name  of  Albula  given  to  the  Tiber  is  easy.  In  the  period 
when  the  Tiber  had  the  power  of  depositing  travertine,  its 
waters  were  much  more  strongly  impregnated  not  only  with 
carbonate  of  lime,  but  also  with  gesso,  which  gave  a  white 
tinge  to  the  water  as  it  now  does  to  the  sulphureous  waters 
near  Tivoli.  The  same  colour  was  characteristic  of  "  the 
white  Nar,  with  its  sulphureous  stream,"  Virgil's  description 
of  the  chief  stream  of  the  central  Apennines. 

Climate. — The  subject  of  the  climate  of  Rome  is  naturally 
connected  with  that  of  the  nature  of  the  soil  and  configura- 
tion of  the  hills  and  valleys. 

It  is  not  diflficult  to  see  why  the  peculiar  geological  forma- 
tion of  the  Campagna  proves,  without  careful  drainage, 
extremely  deleterious  to  health.  We  have  there  a  district 
containing  numerous  closed  valleys  and  depressions  in  the 
soil  without  outlet  for  the  waters  which  naturally  accumulate. 
The  tufa  which  composes  the  surface  seems  commonly  to  take 
the  shape  of  isolated  hills  with  irregular  hollows  between 
them,  so  as  to  impede  the  formation  of  natural  watercourses. 
Under  this  tufa  is  a  quantity  of  marl  and  stiff  clay,  which 
retains  the  water  after  it  has  filtered  through  the  tufa,  and 
sends  it  oozing  out  into  the  lower  parts  of  the  country,  where 
it  accumulates,  and,  mixed  with  putrescent  vegetable  matter, 
taints  the  surrounding  atmosphere.  A  want  of  movement  in 
the  air  caused  by  the  mountainous  barriers  by  which  the 
Campagna  is  inclosed  is  another  source  of  malaria. 

The  sites  of  Veii,  Fidenae  and  Gabii,  once  the  rivals  and 
equals  of  Rome,  are  now  entirely  deserted  except  by  a  few 
shepherds  and  cattle  stalls.  Along  the  coast  stood  Ardea, 
Laurentum,  Lavinium  and  Ostia,  all  of  them  towns  apparently 
with  a  considerable  number  of  inhabitants.  Of  these  Ostia  is 
now  a  miserable  village,  Ardea  contains  about  sixty  inhabi- 
tants, while  Laurentum  and  Lavinium  are  represented   by 


THE   GEOLOGY  OF  ROME. 


219 


single  towers.  During  a  part  of  the  year  the  ancient  Roman 
nobility  lived  in  great  numbers  on  these  very  shores  now 
found  so  deadly.  Pliny  the  younger  describes  the  appearance 
of  their  villas  near  Laurentum  as  that  of  a  number  of  towns 
placed  at  intervals  along  the  beach,  and  he  writes  an  enthu- 
siastic letter  in  praise  of  the  salubrity  and  convenience  of 
his  own  house  there. ^  Lselius  and  Scipio  used  to  make  the 
seaside  at  Laurentum  their  resort,  and  to  amuse  themselves 
there  with  collecting  shells."  Nor  was  it  only  on  the  sea- 
coast  that  the  country  villas  were  placed.  Six  miles  from 
Rome  on  the  Flaminian  Road,  at  the  spot  now  called  Prima 
Porta,  there  stood  a  well-known  country  house  belonging  to 
the  Empress  Livia,  part  of  which  has  lately  been  excavated.^ 
This  was  a  highly  decorated  and  commodious  house,  as  the 
rooms  which  have  been  discovered,  in  which  was  found  a 
splendid  statue  of  Augustus,  and  the  busts  of  several  members 
of  the  imperial  family,  amply  testify.  The  views  from  this  spot 
over  the  Campagna  and  the  Sabine  Hills  are  most  lovely,  but 
the  contrast  between  the  beauty  of  nature  and  the  haggard 
and  fever-stricken  appearance  of  the  modern  inhabitants  is 
melancholy  enough.  A  few  squalid  houses  occupied  by  agri- 
cultural labourers  stand  by  the  roadside.  Among  their 
tenants  not  a  single  healthy  face  is  to  be  seen,  and  even  the 
children  are  gaunt,  hollow-cheeked,  and  sallow  in  complexion. 
No  wealthy  Roman  would  now  consent  to  live  on  the  site  of 
Hadrian's  stately  villa  in  the  Campagna  near  Tivoli.  Tivoli 
itself,  which  Horace  wished  might  be  the  retreat  of  his  old 
age,  and  which  was  celebrated  as  a  healthy  place  in  Martial's 
time,  has  now  lost  its  reputation  for  salubrity,  and  is  known 
as — 

Tivoli  di  mal  conforto, 
O  piove,  o  tira  vento,  o  suona  amorto. 

Strabo  speaks  of  the  now  desolate  district  between  Tusculum 

^  Plin.  Ep.  ii.  17.  The  depopulation  of  the  Campagna  began  even 
in  the  time  of  the  later  Republic.  See  Appian,  B.C.,  i.  7.  In  the 
Antonine  era  and  the  followmg  reigns,  pestilence  and  famine  swept 
off  millions  of  inhabitants.  Zumpt,  "  Stand  der  Bevolkerung,"  p.  84, 
quoted  by  Merivale,  vol.  vii.  p.  610. 

^  Cic.  ile  Or.  ii.  6.  Val.  Max.  viii.  8.  See  Mommsen,  R.  H.  i.  13, 
p.  200. 

=»  Suet.  Galb.  i.     Plin.  N.  H.  xv.  40,  136,  137. 


220 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


n 


and  Kome  as  having  been  convenient  to  live  in.  But  there 
is  no  need  to  multiply  proofs  which  might  be  gathered  from 
all  sides  of  what  is  an  acknowledged  fact,  that  the  malarian 
fevers  of  the  present  day  were  not  nearly  so  deadly  in  the 
classic  times  of  Kome,  or  even  in  the  Middle  Ages.  The 
troops  of  lal>ourers  who,  fearing  to  pass  the  night  in  the 
country,  are  met  returning  to  Rome  every  evening,  the  for- 
saken towers  and  buildings  which  stand  rotting  everywhere 
about  the  Campagna,  all  tell  the  same  tale  of  a  pestilence- 
stricken  district. 

The  peculiar  physical  features  of  the  district  have  had  no 
little  influence  in  determining  the  mode  in  which  the  popu- 
lation was  grouped  in  ancient  times.  Everywhere  we  find 
the  hills  of  Rome  reproduced  on  a  reduced  scale.  Small 
isolated  flat-topped  hills,  irregularly  divided  by  deeply  cut 
watercourses,  and  edged  with  steep  low  cliffs,  afford  numerous 
sites  for  the  settlement  of  limited  independent  communities. 
Such  are  the  hills  on  which  Laurentum,  Lavinium,  Fidense, 
Antemnse,  Ficulea,  Crustumerium  and  Gabii  stood,  and 
similar  places  abound  in  many  parts  of  the  district.  Such 
hills  afforded  suitable  sites  for  the  small  fortified  towns  with 
which  ancient  Latium  was  thickly  studded.  Their  sides  can 
be  easily  scarped  so  as  to  afford  a  natural  line  of  defence,  and 
they  are  in  general  fairly  supplied  with  water  from  numerous 
land  springs. 

Thus,  although  the  general  aspect  of  the  Campagna  is  that 
of  a  plain  country,  yet  the  main  level  of  its  surface  is  broken 
by  numerous  deep  gullies  and  groups  of  hillocks. 

The  tertiary  marine  strata,  already  described  as  forming 
the  Janiculum  and  other  hills  upon  the  right  bank  of  the 
Tiber,  do  not  rise  to  the  surface  in  the  Campagna,  except  on 
the  flanks  of  the  ^quian  and  Sabine  hills.  These  hills 
themselves  consist  of  great  masses  of  Apennine  limestone 
jutting  out  here  and  there  into  the  spurs  upon  which  some  of 
the  more  considerable  cities  of  the  Latin  confederacy  stood, 
as  Tibur,  Prseneste,  Bola  and  Cameria. 

The  Alban  Hills  form  a  totally  distinct  group,  consisting 
of  two  principal  extinct  volcanic  craters  somewhat  resembling, 
in  their  relations  to  each  other,  the  great  Neapolitan  craters 
of  Vesuvius  and  Somma.  One  of  them  lies  within  the 
embrace  of  the  other,  just  as  Vesuvius  lies  half  inclosed  by 


H 


GO 


n 


u 


222 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


Monte  Somma.  The  walls  of  the  outer  Alban  crater  are  of 
peperino,  while  those  of  the  inner  are  basaltic.  Both  are 
broken  away  on  the  northern  side  towards  Grotta  Ferrata 
and  Marino,  but   on  the   southern  side  they  are  tolerably 

perfect. 

From  the  legendary  times,  when  Latinus,  Evander,  ^neas, 
and  the  rest  of  Virgil's  heroes  are  supposed  to  have  occupied 
the  great  plain  of  Latium,  down  to  the  final  settlement  of  the 
district  by  its  subjection  to  Rome  in  B.C.  338,  the  Roman 
Campagna  was  peopled  by  communities  chiefly  living  in 
towns.  Etruria  on  one  side  and  Latium  on  the  other,  con- 
tained confederacies  of  independent  cities,  with  one  or  other 
of  which  the  Romans  were  constantly  at  war.  Etruria  gave 
way  first,  and  after  the  fall  of  Veii  in  b.c.  395,  the  Roman 
dominions  extended  northwards  as  far  as  the  Lago  Bracciano 
and  Civita  Castellana. 

At  that  time  the  great  confederacy  of  Latium,  though  Alba 
was  destroyed,  still  existed  under  the  Hegemony  of  Rome  as 
the  successor  of  Alba,  and  numbered  Tibur,  Praeneste,  Tuscu- 
lum,  Aricia,  Antium,  Lanuvium,  Velitrse,  Pedum,  and  Nomen- 
tum  among  its  members.  But  after  the  victories  gained  by  the 
consuls  of  the  year  b.c.  338,  the  absorption  of  the  Latin  cities 
made  rapid  progress,  and  the  character  of  the  population  of 
the  Campagna  began  to  be  completely  changed.^  Li  this, 
the  second  period  of  the  history  of  the  Campagna,  the  towns 
were  gradually  reduced  to  mere  villages,  the  small  farmers 
disappeared,  and  the  land  was  occupied  by  the  immense 
estates  (latifundia)  of  rich  proprietors  cultivated  by  hordes 
of  slaves.  Such  is  the  condition  in  which  we  find  the 
Campagna  in  the  time  of  Cicero.^  The  great  villas  which 
strew  the  ground  everywhere  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Rome 
with  their  ruins  were  then  constructed,  and  the  colossal 
aqueducts  which  served  not  only  to  supply  Rome  with  water 
but  also  to  irrigate  the  farms  and  country  seats  of  the 
Campagna. 

There  seems  to  have  been  a  constant  tendency  during  the 
later  republic  and  early  empire  to  reduce  the  amount  of  arable 
land,  and  to  increase  the  extent  of  pasturage  in  the  Campagna. 
Thus  the  country  was   rendered   less  and  less  healthy,  and 

»  PUn.  N.  H.  xxxiv.  §  20.     Kutilius  de  Red.  224.     Strabo,  v.  3, 
^  Cic.  pro  Plane.  9.     De  Leg.  Agr.  ii.  35. 


THE   GEOLOGY   OF   ROME. 


223 


Rome  became  gradually  more  dependent  than  ever  on  foreign 
countries  for  her  supply  of  corn. 

The  last  phase  of  the  history  of  the  Roman  Campagna  is 
the  most  melancholy.  The  aqueducts  were  nearly  all  destroyed 
by  the  Gothic  army  at  the  siege  of  Rome  under  Vitiges  in 
A.D.  536,  and  the  great  country  seats  of  the  Roman  nobles 
and  princes  must  have  been  ruined  by  the  successive  devasta- 
tions of  Roman  territory  during  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries 
in  which  the  Lombards  were  the  principal  actors.  Agriculture 
ceased,  and  the  few  villages  and  country  houses  which  remained 
soon  became  uninhabitable  during  a  great  part  of  the  year,  in 
consequence  of  the  increase  of  malarious  exhalations  arising 
from  the  uncultivated  state  of  the  soil,  or  were  rendered  unsafe 
by  the  lawless  bands  of  ruffian  marauders  who  infested  the 
oi>en  country.  Such  is  in  the  main  the  condition  of  the  Roman 
Campagna  at  the  present  day,  for  the  most  part  a  waste  of 
ragged  pastures  without  human  habitations,  and  wild  jungles 
tenanted  only  by  foxes,  bears,  and  other  wild  animals. 

The  above  remarks  will  serve  to  show  that  after  b.c.  338 
the  Campagna  became  deprived  of  all  historical  interest  except 
as  the  summer  residence  of  the  great  Roman  proprietors.  Its 
history  belongs  almost  entirely  to  the  early  times  of  the 
Roman  Republic. 


Mi\.:- 


CHAPTER   X. 

the  neighbourhood  of  rome. 

The  Yia  Appia  and  the  Alban  Hills. 

The  Appian  Road. — Of  the  great  roads  along  which  the 
principal  tmffic  from  ancient  Rome  passed,  the  Appian  Road 
may  perhaps  be  said  to  have  been  the  most  important,  as  it 
led  to  the  southern  and  oriental  provinces  of  the  great  empire ; 
and  it  is  on  the  line  of  this  ancient  road  that  the  greatest 
number  of  ruined  tombs  and  other  buildings  are  still  left. 
Two  hundred  ruins  are  said  to  stand  on  the  sides  of  the  Appian 
Road  between  the  site  of  the  Porta  Capena,  by  which  this  road 
left  the  Servian  walls,  and  Albano,  a  distance  of  fourteen  miles. 
The  tombs  were  of  the  most  varied  and  fantastic  shapes  and 
designs,  the  most  common  forms  being  those  with  square  or 
circular  bases,  cylindrical  superstructure,  and  conical  roof. 
Some  were  square  with  several  floors,  and  surmounted  by  a 
pyramid,  others  consisted  of  chapels  in  brick,  placed  upon  a 
cubical  base,  or  of  sarcophagi  in  various  shapes,  mounted  upon 
brick  substructions. 

Many  fragmentary  inscriptions  have  been  found  which  once 
belonged  to  these  tombs,  but  not  one  of  any  historical  impor- 
tance. The  greater  part  of  them  record  the  names  of  f  reedmen, 
and  other  obscure  people,  as  the  larger  and  more  highly  deco- 
rated tombs  were  plundered  first,  and  their  marble  casing  and 
inscriptions  completely  destroyed  at  an  early  period.  The 
older  fragments  which  have  been  saved  may  be  studied  in  the 
Berlin  Collection  of  Inscriptions  where  they  are  learnedly  and 
ably  edited  by  Th.  Mommsen. 

There  were  also  many  fountains  and  semicircular  ranges  of 


THE   NEIGHBOURHOOD   OF   HOME. 


227 


seats  by  the  side  of  the  road  designed  as  resting-places  for 

travellers. 

The  commencement  of  the  ancient  Appian  Road  now  lies 
l^tween  the  Porta  S.  Sebastiano  (Porta  Appia  in  Aurelian's 
Walls)  and  the  site  of  the  old  Porta  Capena.  From  this  part 
of  the  road  the  Via  Latina  diverged  on  the  left,  and  the  Via 
Ardeatina  on  the  right.  Beyond  the  Porta  S.  Sebastiano,  the 
first  monument  now  visible  is  a  mass  of  stonework  on  the  left 
hand,  about  100  yards  from  the  gate.  From  its  form  and  the 
style  of  masonry  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  it  was  a 
pyramidal  tomb  similar  to  that  of  Caius  Cestius  at  the  Porta 
S'.  Paolo,  and  that  it  was  built  in  the  Augustan  era.  The 
road  then  crosses  the  Almo,  and  the  remains  of  another 
pyramidal  tomb  are  to  be  seen  on  the  left.  This  is  sometimes 
called  the  Tomb  of  Priscilla,  mentioned  by  Statius,  but  that 
name  more  probably  belongs  to  the  larger  tomb  further  on, 
beyond  the  Church  of  Domine  quo  Vadis.  This  latter  ruin 
agrees  better  with  the  description  of  Statius,  as  it  had  a  cupola 
and  loculi  for  the  reception  of  unburnt  corpses.  The  immense 
number  of  ruined  tombs  and  other  buildings  which  crowd  the 
sides  of  the  road  beyond  this  point,  make  it  necessary  to 
restrict  our  remarks  as  much  as  possible,  and  we  shall  therefore 
only  notice  a  few  of  the  most  prominent  ruins  upon  the  road 
or  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood. 

Divus  Rediculus. — The  brick  building  called  the  Temple 
of  the  Divus  Rediculus  stands  half  a  mile  to  the  left  of  the 
road  at  the  second  milestone  in  the  Caffarella  valley.  The 
legend  which  connects  it  with  Hannibal's  march  on  Rome  is 
altogether  unworthy  of  credit,'  and  it  is  plain  that  the  building, 
which  had  no  rows  of  surrounding  columns,  but  is  constructed 
with  Corinthian  pilasters,  had  two  stories,  and  cannot  there- 
fore have  been  a  temple.  Professor  Reber  considers  that  it 
was  a  chapel  tomb  similar  to  that  to  be  seen  further  on  the 
road  at  S.  Urbano,  near  the  Tomb  of  Csecilia  Metella. 

Grotto  of  Egeria. — The  Grotto  of  Egeria,  as  it  is  called, 
lies  in  the  valley  of  the  Almo  about  half  a  mile  above  the 
building  just  mentioned.  It  is  an  arched  nymphseum  of  brick, 
at  the  back  of  which  a  plentiful  stream  of  clear  water  issues. 
The  mutilated  statue  of  the  nymph  still  remains,  but  no  other 

1  Festus,  p.  232. 


THE   NEIGHBOURHOOD   OF   ROME. 


229 


..  .  -   ■  >•    ■  « 


parts  of  the  decorations.     There  is  little  doubt  that  it  was  the 
nymphaeum  of  some  suburban  villa. 

Temple  of  Bacchus  or  Honos. — On  the  hill  above  it 
stands  the  Church  of  S.  Urbano,  probably  an  ancient  tomb  in 
the  shape  of  a  chapel.  It  is  commonly  called  the  Temple  of 
Bacchus  from  the  discovery  under  it  of  an  altar  of  Dionysus 
with  a  Greek  inscription.  But  this  altar  seems  to  have  been 
moved  here  from  some  other  spot.  The  building  is  in  the 
form  which  has  a  projecting  porch  with  four  Corinthian 
columns  and  capitals.  These  are  now  built  up  into  the  modern 
wall.  The  whole,  except  the  entablature  and  columns,  is  of 
brickwork  of  the  Antonine  era,  as  appears  from  the  stamps  of 
the  bricks.  The  triple  frieze,  forming  a  kind  of  attica  between 
the  architrave  and  cornice,  seems  to  contradict  the  notion  that 
this  was  a  temple,  though  the  great  antiquary  E.  Q.  Visconti 
considered  that  it  was  the  Temple  of  Honour  built  by  Marius 
outside  the  Porta  Capena.^  The  interior  is  tolerably  well 
preserved,  and  has  a  vaulted  roof  with  coffers  and  reliefs  in 
the  form  of  trophies. 

The  Circus  of  Maxentius  and  Temple  of  Romulus. 
— On  the  left  of  the  Appian  Road,  where  it  dips  suddenly  into 
a  valley  near  the  Church  of  S.  Sebastian,  lies  a  group  of  ruins, 
the  principal  of  which  consist  of  a  circus,  a  building  inclosed 
in  a  large  square  court,  and  some  remains  of  rooms  apparently 
belonging  to  an  ancient  villa.  The  walls  of  the  circus  are  still 
in  such  preservation  that  they  can  be  easily  traced  round 
the  whole  inclosure,  and  are  in  some  parts  nearly  of  the 
original  height.  They  are  built  of  rubble  mixed  with  brick- 
work, and  with  jars  of  terra-cotta  to  lighten  their  weight, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  masonry  in  other  walls  of  the  same 
date.  The  towers  at  each  side  of  the  Carceres,  or  starting 
post,  the  curved  line  of  Carceres  themselves,  and  the  spina, 
or  central  division  line,  can  be  easily  traced.  An  inscription 
found  here  in  1825,  and  now  placed  at  the  entrance  to 
the  ruins,  seems  to  show  that  the  circus  was  built  in  honour 
of  Romulus,  son  of  Maxentius,  who  died  before  his  father, 
309.     This  is  confirmed  bv  a  statement  in  one  of  the 


A.D. 


ancient  chronicles  published  by  Roncalli,  in  which  it  is  said 
that  Maxentius  built  a  circus  near  the  catacombs,  evidently 

^  Visconti  op.  Milan,  1829,  vol.  ii.  p.  387. 


I: 


THE   NEIGHBOURHOOD   OF   ROME, 


231 


la 

< 

< 


r. 


H 

;>. 

«^ 

H 

as 
O 

< 
H 

if 

x 

H 
/■. 

X 


o 
■r. 

a: 


X 


referring  to  the  neighbouring  catacombs  of  S.  Sebastian  and 
others,  and  also  by  the  style  of  masonry  used  in  the  circus. 
The  adjoining  ruined  temple,  with  its  inclosing  court,  seems 
to  belong  to  a  somewhat  earlier  style  of  construction,  but  some 
reasons  derived  from  the  coins  of  Maxentius  and  Romulus 
have  been  given  for  supposing  that  it  was  the  temple 
dedicated  to  Romulus  after  his  apotheosis  by  his  father/  The 
ruins  are  not  sufficiently  preserved  to  make  it  certain  that  the 
building  was  a  temple,  and  there  is  nothing  to  contradict  the 
h\^)othesis  that  it  was  a  tomb.  Nor  is  anything  whatever 
known  about  the  adjoining  villa. 

Tomb  of  Csecilia  Metella.— On  the  end  of  the  mound 
formed  by  the  great  lava  stream  which  ages  ago  flowed  down 
from  the"^  Alban  Hills,  and  along  the  top  of  which  the  Via 
Appia  runs  from  this  point,  stands  the  conspicuous  Tomb  of 
Csecilia  Metella,  the  daughter  of  Metellus  Creticus,  and  wife 
of  Crassus,  but  whether  of  the  Triumvir  Crassus,  or  of 
the  orator,  or  of  some  other  less  well  known  Crassus  is 
uncertain.  The  shape  of  the  tomb  is  the  same  as  that 
of  the  Mausoleum  of  Hadrian,  and  the  Tomb  of  the  Plautii 
at  Tivoli ;  a  cylindrical  towerlike  edifice,  resting  on  a  square 
base  of  concrete  with  massive  blocks  of  travertine.  The 
upper  part  has  been  destroyed,  and  the  marble  casing  stripped 
off,  with  the  exception  of  a  band  of  ox  skulls  and  garlands 
which  surround  it,  and  some  trophies  carved  in  relief  above 
the  inscription.  The  roof  was  probably  conical.  Mediaeval 
battlements,  erected  by  the  Caetani  family,  who  held  it  as  a 
fortress  in  the  thirteenth  century,  now  crown  the  upper  edge. 
The  remains  of  their  castle  are  sdll  visible  on  each  side  of  the 
road  bevond  the  tomb, 

Ronia  Vecchia,  Villa  of  Seneca.— After  passing  the 
third  milestone,  the  Appian  Road  is  fringed  with  ruins  of 
innumerable  tombs,  and  here  and  there  the  relics  of  a  suburban 
villa.  Scarcely  any  of  these  can  have  names  attached  to  them 
with  any  certainty.  The  spot  is  now  called  Roma  Vecchia, 
and  the  Campus  sacer  Horatiorum,  the  Fossa  Cluiha,  and  the 
Villa  Quintiliana  Commodi  lay  near  here.  The  suburban  villa 
in  which  Seneca  committed  suicide  by  opening  his  veins  was  at 
the  fourth  milestone,  as  we  learn  from  Tacitus,  and  near  this 

^  Hobler,  Koman  coins,  p.  821.  No.  2,035.  Eckliel,  Num.  Vet. 
viii.  p.  59. 


The  Tomb  of  C'.kcilia  Mktfxla  on  the  Appian  Road, 


THE   NEIGHBOURHOOD   OF   ROME. 


233 


was  found  in  1824,  by  Nibby,  a  marble  slab  with  the  name  of 
Granius,  a  military  tribune.  A  tribune  of  this  name  was  em- 
ployed by  Nero  to  compel  Seneca  to  kill  himself,  but  whether 
the  stone  refers  to  him  or  not  is  of  course  doubtful. 

Tomb  of  Atticus. — At  the  fifth  milestone  on  the  right 
hand  of  the  road  is  a  round  mass  of  ruins  with  a  rectangular 
chamber  inside,  which  has  been  supposed  to  be  the  tomb 
mentioned  by  Cornelius  Nepos,  as  the  burial  place  of  Atticus, 
Cicero's  friend.  Near  this  is  the  great  platform  of  peperino 
blocks  which  is  thought  to  have  been  used  as  a  burning 
place  (ustrina)  for  the  bodies  interred  at  the  side  of  the 
road. 

Villa  Quintiliana. — On  the  left  hand,  a  little  way  beyond 
the  fifth  milestone,  the  remains  of  the  Villa  Quintiliana  of 
Commodus  begin,  and  reach  along  the  side  of  the  road  for  at 
least  half  a  mile,  extending  also  towards  the  left  into  the  ad- 
joining fields  as  far  as  the  edge  of  the  great  lava  current,  on 
the  top  of  which  the  Via  Appia  is  here  carried.  The  whole 
of  this  space,  nearly  two  miles  in  circumference,  is  covered 
with  fragments  of  costly  marbles,  of  sculpture,  and  bits  of 
mosaic,  showing  that  it  was  covered  with  handsomely  decorated 
buildings.  The  style  of  construction,  says  Nibby,  belongs  to 
three  different  epochs.  The  buildings  nearest  to  the  Appian 
Road,  comprising  the  great  reservoir,  on  the  foundation  of 
which  the  farmhouse  of  S.  Maria  Nuova  is  built,  are  of  brick- 
work and  reticulated  work  of  the  time  of  Hadrian,  the  great 
mass  of  the  ruins  which  lies  on  the  left  towards  the  new  road 
to  Albano,  exhibits  workmanship  of  the  Antonine  era,  and 
amongst  them  have  been  found  numerous  fragments  of  sculp- 
ture, also  belonging  to  the  reigns  of  the  Antonines.  The 
third  style  of  building  is  that  called  opera  mista  by  the  Italian 
antiquarians,  which  prevailed  in  the  Constantinian  times,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century.  The  buildings  of  the 
Antonines  have  been  repaired  and  overlaid  in  many  places  by 
this  later  work.  The  stamps  of  most  of  the  bricks  found 
here  belong  to  the  reigns  of  Antoninus  Pius,  Marcus  Aurelius, 
and  Commodus,  and  were  made  chiefly  in  the  imperial  brick- 
yards. Thus  the  date  of  the  principal  parts  of  the  building 
is  decided,  and  it  is  seen  that  the  villa  was  most  probably  an 
imperial  villa.  But  all  doubt  on  this  point  was  completely 
cleared  away  by  the  discovery,  in  1828,  of  a  number  of  large 


234 


ANCIENT   ROMK. 


leaden  pipes  bearing  the  inscription,  ii.  quintiliorum  con- 
DiNi  ET  MAXiMi,  from  which  it  became  evident  that  the  villa 
was  the  same  place  which  Vopiscus  and  Dion  Cassius  mention 
as  the  property  of  the  Quintilii,  consuls  in  the  years  a.d.  151, 
under  Antoninus  Pius,  and  victims  of  the  spite  of  Commodus 
in  A.D.  182.'  Commodus  seized  their  property,  and  the  villa 
became  one  of  his  favourite  residences.  The  great  extent  of 
the  ruins  explains  the  circumstance  related  by  Herodian,  that 
the  emjjeror,  being  in  the  back  part  of  the  villa,  could  not 
hear  the  shouts  of  the  infuriated  mob  on  the  Appian  Eoad, 
who  were  demanding  the  life  of  Cleander." 

The  ruins  which  extend  along  the  side  of  the  road,  are 
plainly  fragments  of  a  kind  of  vestibule  or  grand  entrance  to 
the  imperial  villa.  They  consist  of  a  nymphseum  or  grand 
fountain,  and  a  row  of  chambers  intended  for  slaves'  lodgings. 
The  fountain  is  supplied  with  water  by  an  aqueduct,  the 
arches  of  which  can  be  seen  at  the  seventh  milestone,  where 
it  leaves  tlie  lava  rocks,  and  crosses  the  country  towards 
Marino,  at  a  higher  level  than  even  the  Aqua  Claudia.  This 
nymphseum  and  aqueduct  are  built  of  opera  mista,  which 
shows  that  they  are  probably  the  work  of  the  Constantinian 

The  principal  mass  of  the  villa  itself  stood  nearly  half  a 
mile  from  the  old  Appian  Road,  on  the  edge  of  the  rocks  of 
basaltic  lava.  Between  them  and  the  road  the  space  was 
occupied  by  gardens  and  ornamental  summer-houses  and 
ponds.  Nibby  describes  the  chief  ruins  as  having  belonged 
to  a  richly  ornamented  fountain,  and  a  suite  of  bathing-rooms 
of  great  grandeur. 

One  spacious  saloon,  the  walls  of  which  form  a  picturesque 
ruin,  as  seen  from  the  new  post  road  to  Albano,  stands  on  the 
edge  of  the  rising  ground,  and  commands  a  magnificent  view 
of  the  whole  of  the  Alban  and  Sabine  Hills  and  the  city  of 
Rome.  Near  this  was  a  small  theatre,  from  which  the  cipol- 
lino  columns  of  the  entrance  to  the  Tordinone  Theatre  in 
Rome  were  taken. 

An  immense  quantity  of  valuable  sculpture,  now  in  the 
Roman  museums  and  palaces,  was  discovered  by  excavations 
here  in    1787   and   1792.      Among  these  sculptures  was   a 

^  Hist.  Aug.  Flor.  16.     Dion  Cass.  Ixxii.  5,  13. 
"^  Herotlian,  i.  12. 


THE   NEIGHBOURHOOD   OF   ROME. 


235 


splendid  statue  of  Euterpe,  now  in  the  Galleria  dei  Candelabri, 
a  tiger  now  in  the  Hall  of  Animals ;  and  the  busts  of  Lucius 
Verus,  Diocletian,  and  Epicurus,  Socrates,  the  Isis  and 
Antinous  in  the  Vatican,  with  numerous  Sileni,  Fauns,  and 

Nereids. 

Casale  Rotondo. — Between  the  sixth  and  seventh  mile- 
stones from  the  Porta  Capena  there  is  a  large  round  ruin  300 
feet  in  diameter,  called  Casale  Rotondo,  now  supporting  a 
house  and  olive  orchard  upon  the  top.  The  fragments  of 
sculpture  found  here  have  been  arranged  on  the  face  of  a 
wall,  close  to  the  pile  of  ruins.  The  name  Cotta  was  found 
on  an  inscription  belonging  to  this,  and  hence  it  has  been 
supposed  to  be  the  tomb  of  the  gens  Aurelia,  who  bore  the 
surname  of  Cotta.  On  the  left  are  the  arches  of  the  aqueduct 
which  supplied  the  Villa  of  Commodus. 

At  the  eighth  milestone  there  was  a  Temple  of  Hercules 
erected  by  Domitian.  Martial  mentions  this  temple  in  several 
passages.  There  are  considerable  remains  of  a  tetrastyle 
temple  on  the  right  hand  of  the  road,  consisting  of  columns 
of  Alban  peperino  ;  but  this,  which  was  once  supposed  to  be 
the  Temple  of  Hercules,  is  now  said  to  have  contained  an  altar 
to  Silvanus. 

The  Villa  and  Farm  of  Persius  the  poet  is  said  by  his 
biographer  to  have  been  near  the  eighth  milestone.  At  the 
ninth  stood  the  Tomb  of  Oallienus,  and  perhaps  the  ruins 
there  belong  to  his  suburbanum.  At  the  tenth  milestone, 
the  Rivus  Albanus,  formerly  the  Aqua  Terentina,  is  crossed ; 
and  at  the  eleventh,  the  road  begins  to  ascend  the  slope 
towards  Albano. 

Bovillae.— At  the  twelfth,  the  circuit  of  the  walls  of  the 
ancient  town  of  Bovillse  is  approached.  Dionysius  says  that 
Bovillae  was  situated  where  the  hill  before  reaching  Albano 
first  begins  to  be  steep,  and  this  answers  to  the  position  of 
the  modem  Osteria  delle  Frattocchie.  The  ruins  which  are 
now  generally  held  to  be  those  of  Bovillae  lie  on  the  cross 
road,  called  Strada  di  Nettuno,  a  little  way  above  Frattocchie.' 
They  consist  of  a  small  theatre  built  of  brickwork  and  opus 
reticulatura,  and  a  somewhat  larger  circus,  the  inclosure  of 
which  and  the  carceres  are  still  pretty  well  preserved.     The 

I  Ann.  deir  Inst.  1853,  1854. 


236 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


town  did  not  lie  close  to  the  road.  It  was  founded  hy  a  colony 
from  Alba  Longa,  and  was  a  flourishing  j^lace  until  Coriolanus 
destroyed  it.  For  centuries  afterwards  we  find  but  little 
notice *^taken  of  it.  In  Cicero's  time  it  was  a  very  insignificant 
village,  and  had  it  not  been  immortalized  by  the  assassination 
of  Clodius  there,  which  led  to  such  important  results,  it  could 
hardly  excite  any  interest  in  later  times.' 

The  honour  of  being  the  native  place  of  the  gens  Julia  gave 
it  some  artificial  imix)rtance  in  the  imperial  times.  Tiberius 
is  mentioned  by  Tacitus  as  having  erected  a  sacrarium  of  the 
Julian  family  and  a  statue  of  Augustus  there,  and  founding 
Circensian  games  in  honour  of  the  gens  Julia.  Some  inscrip- 
tions found  on  the  spot  show  the  town  still  existed  in  the 
second  century  a.d.  It  is  now  occupied  by  plots  of  land  laid 
out  as  gardens.  The  Villa  of  Clodius,  Cicero's  enemy,  appears 
to  have  been  at  or  near  the  thirteenth  milestone  from  Rome, 
close  to  the  left  side  of  the  Appian  Road,  between  Bovillae 
and  the  modem  Albano.  It  was  raised  on  immense  sub- 
structions, the  arches  of  which  were  capable  of  concealing  a 
thousand  men,  and  Cicero  declares  that  Clodius  had  not 
respected  even  the  confines  of  the  Temple  of  Jupiter  Latiaris 
or  the  sacred  groves  of  Alba."  The  ruins  which  lie  under 
Castel  Gandolfo,  on  the  left  side  of  the  road  towards  the 
Porta  Romana  of  Albano,  may  have  formed  ])art  of  the 
substruction  of  which  Cicero  speaks.  The  estate  of  Clo- 
dius passed  after  his  death,  when  the  family  of  the  Claudii 
Pulcri  became  extinct,  into  the  hands  of  the  Claudii  Nerones, 
from  whom  Tiberius  inherited  it,  and  thus  it  became  imperial 

property. 

Villa  of  Pompey.— The  Villa  of  Pompey  was  between 
that  of  Clodius  and  Aricia,  and  therefore  occupied  the  site  of 
the  present  town  of  Albano.  Nibby  thinks  that  the  walls  of 
reticulated  work  in  the  Villa  Doria  belonged  to  Pompey's 
house,  and  that  the  great  tomb,  near  the  Roman  gate  of 
Albano  was  Pompey's  burial-place.  Plutarch  states  that 
Pompey  was  buried  at  his  Alban  villa.  The  tomb,  with  five 
truncated  cones,  usually  called  the  Tomb  of  the  Horatii  and 
Curiatii,  has  also  been  called  the  Tomb  of  Pompey.  It  is 
more   probably   an    imitation   of    the    old   Etruscan  tombs 

^  Cic.  pro  Plane.  9 ;  Propert.  v.  1,  33. 
»  Cic.  pro  Mil.  10,  19,  20,  31. 


THE   NEIGHBOURHOOD   OF   ROME. 


237 


executed  at  a  later  time.  After  the  death  of  that  great 
general,  the  estate  became  the  property  of  Dolabella,  and 
subsequently  of  Antony,  who  held  it  till  the  battle  of  Actium, 
when  Augustus  took  possession  of  it.  After  the  adoption  of 
Tiberius,  it  was  united  with  the  Clodian  grounds,  and  thus 
formed  the  nucleus  of  the  Albanum  Csesarum. 

Albanum  Csesarum. — Augustus  and  some  of  the  early 
emperors  found  the  Albanum  a  convenient  halting- place  on 
their  journeys  to  the  south,  but  it  was  in  the  time  of  Domitian 
that  the  place  was  extended  so  much  as  to  contain  a  military 
camp,  enormous  reservoirs  of  water,  thermae,  a  theatre,  an 
amphitheatre,  and  a  circular  temple.  It  is  called  Arx  Albana 
by  Juvenal,  Tacitus,  and  Martial. 

The  plan  of  the  camp  can  still  be  traced.  It  resembled 
that  of  the  Praetorian  camp  at  Rome,  in  being  a  quadrangular 
space  rounded  off  at  the  corners.  The  two  longer  sides  ex- 
tend from  the  Church  of  S.  Paolo  at  Albano  to  the  round 
Temple,  now  the  Church  of  S.  Maria.  One  of  the  shorter 
sides  was  parallel  to  the  Appian  Road,  and  the  other  ran  near 
the  Church  of  S.  Paolo.  There  were  four  terraces  or  levels  in 
the  camp  rising  towards  the  hill  behind.  The  Porta  Decu- 
mana  was  in  the  north-eastern  side,  and  the  Porta  Praetoria 
on  the  south-western.  The  great  reservoirs  for  water  stand 
on  the  northern  side  near  S.  Paolo,  and  the  thermae  towards 
the  south-east  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Appian  Road.  At 
the  western  corner  is  the  round  building  usually  called  the 
Temple  of  Minerva,  and  supposed  to  be  that  alluded  to  by 
Suetonius  as  annually  visited  by  Domitian.  This  round 
building  is  in  good  preservation,  but  its  purpose  cannot  be 
determined  with  certainty.  Nibby  says  that  the  ancient  mosaic 
pavement  still  remains  at  a  depth  of  6  feet  below  the  present 
surface.  The  amphitheatre  is  situated  between  the  Church  of 
S.  Paolo  and  that  of  the  Capuchin  Convent.  It  is  principally 
constructed  of  opus  quadratum,  but  the  interior  parts  are  of 
a  mixed  masonry,  consisting  of  bricks  and  fragments  of  the 
local  stone.  This  amphitheatre  is  supposed  to  have  been  the 
scene  of  the  feats  performed  by  Domitian,  in  killing  with  his 
own  hand  hundreds  of  wild  beasts  with  arrows  and  javelins, 
and  also  of  the  degradation  of  Acilius  Glabrio,  who  was  forced, 
according  to  Juvenal,  by  Domitian  to  join  him  in  these  sports 
of  the  arena. 


¥^ 


m- 


238 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


Between  Castel  Gandolfo  and  Albano  four  magnificent 
terraces,  rising  one  above  the  other,  were  traced  by  Cav. 
Rosa  as  forming  part  of  the  Albanum  Csesarum,  and  m  the 
Villa  Barberini  there  is  a  considerable  part  of  a  cryptopor- 
ticus,  ornamented  with  stucco  reliefs,  which  probably  stands 
over  the  old  substructions  of  the  Villa  Clodi.  On  the 
side  towards  the  lake  there  were  open  balconies  for  viewing 
the  mock  naval  engagements  ;  and  near  the  entrance  of  the 
Barberini  Villa  the  ruins  of  a  theatre  have  been  discovered. 
It  appears  probable  from  the  numerous  ruins  found  upon 
the  edge  of  the  lake  that  the  whole  of  it  was  surrounded 
with  quavs  and  tiers  of  stone  seats,  and  chapels  of  Nymphs, 
making  it  resemble  a  gigantic  natural  naumachia,  or  sheet 
of  water  for  sham  naval  fights.  These  ruins  may  possibly, 
however,  have  belonged  to  separate  private  vilks  placed  at 
different  points  round  the  water. 

To  the  south  of  Albano,  in  the  grounds  of  the  Vi  la 
Dona  there  are  the  ruins  of  an  extensive  R<unan  villa. 
Whether  this  was  a  part  of  the  Albanum  Caesarum  or  not, 
is  uncertain.  Some  of  the  bricks  bear  the  stamps  of  Domi- 
tian,  others  those  of  the  third  consulship  of  Servianus  (a.d. 
134)   Hadrian's  brother-in-law,  others  of  Commodus. 

Lago  Albano  or  Di  Castello.— The  Alban  lake  belongs 
to  the  water  system  of  the  Tiber,  and  has  most  of  its  out- 
lets on  the  western  side.  It  has  been  supposed  that  a 
subterranean  communication  exists  between  this  lake  and 
that  of  Nemi,  but  Nibby  asserts  that  this  is  impossible,  as 
the  level  of  the  lake  of  Nemi  is  higher  than  that  of  the 
Alban  lake  The  circumference  of  this  sheet  of  water  is 
more  than  six  miles,  and  it  is  nearly  elliptical  in  shape. 
The  storv  of  the  sudden  rise  of  its  waters  m  the  sixth  year 
of  the  si'ege  of  Veii  is  well  known,  and  the  response  of  the 
Delphic  oracle  as  given  in  Livy.  -^1,1 

Cicero  gives  a  distinct  account  of  the  drainage  of  the  lake. 
**  We  are  told,'*  he  savs,  "  bv  the  Annalists,  that  during  the 
siecre  of  Veii,  when  the  Alban  lake  had  risen  to  an  unusual 
height  a  Veientine  noble  fled  to  Rome  as  a  deserter,  and 
declared  that  it  was  written  in  the  books  of  fate  which  were 

»  The  mock  council  held  over  the  dgantic  turbot  de8cril)ea  in  the 
Fourth  Satire  of  Juvenal  was  at  the  Alhanuni. 
a  Ann.  e  Mon.  dell'  Inst.  1854,  p.  101. 


M 


4*-;;' 


240 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


kept  at  Veii,  that  Veil  could  not  be  taken    so  long  as  the 
lake  was  overflowing  its  banks,  and  that  if  the  lake  were 
tapped,   and  flowed   into  the    sea   by  its  own  channel  and 
streVm,  it  would  be  fatal  to  the  Roman  nation,  but  that  it 
the  wat^r  were  so  discharged   as  to  make  it  impossible  for 
it  to  reach  the  sea.  then  the  Romans  would  t)e  victorious. 
In  consequence  of  this  our  ancestors  contrived  that  admirable 
plan  for  drawing  off  and  dispersing  the  water  of  ^ lie  lake 
^  From  this  passage  it  would  seem  likely  that  the  whole 
obiect  of  the  drainage  of  the  lake  was  to  obtain  a  constant 
supplv  of   water  for  the   irrigation  of   the  Campagna.     In 
anothW  passage  Cicero  states  his  opinion  still  more  clearly, 
that  the  work  was  really  undertaken  for  the  benefit  of  subur- 
ban agriculture.     "  The  Veientine  prophecy  that  if  the  water 
of   the  Alban   lake   rose   above  its  margin  and  flowed  into 
the  sea,  Rome  would  perish ;   but  that   if   it  .^^e  checked 
Veii  would   be   taken,  in  consequence   of   which  the  Alban 
water  was  diverted,  was  intended  to  benefit  the  suburban 
farms,  and  not  to  secure  the  safety  of  Rome."     What  appears 
strancre,  is  that  it  should  have  been  necessary  to  appeal  to  a 
superstitious  motive  in  the  case  of  a  people  evidently  so  far 
advanced  in  civilization  as  to  be  capable  of  carrying  out  an 
engineering  work  of  such  difficulty  in  a  single  year. 

Emissarium  of  the  Alban  Lake.-The  tunnel  which 
still  carries  off  the  superfluous  water  of  the  lake  is  cut  through 
solid  peperino  and  occasional  masses  of  still  harder  basaltic 
lava.  It  is  more  than  a  mile  and  a  half  m  length,  from  7  to 
10  feet  in  height,  and  never  less  than  4  feet  in  breadth.  Ihe 
height  of  the  edge  of  the  lake  basin  above  the  level  of  its 
water  at  the  part  which  is  pierced  by  the  tunnel  is  430  feet 
Three  vertical  shafts  are  still  discoverable,  by  which  a  draft 
of  air  was  created  and  the  rubbish  was  removed,  and  one 
slanting  shaft  for  the  entrance  and  exit  of  the  miners.  The 
rock  was  cut  with  a  chisel  an  inch  wide,  as  may  be  seen  from 
the  marks  left  upon  the  sides  of  the  tunnel. 

At  the  points  where  the  water  enters  and  leaves  the  tunnel, 
considerable  pains  have  been  taken  to  regulate  the  flow.  The 
channel  of  stonework  at  the  mouth  is  placed  in  a  slanting 
direction  so  as  to  break  the  force  of  the  rush  of  water.     At 

1  Cic.  de  Div.  i.  44 ;  ii.  32. 


THE   NEIGHBOURHOOD   OF   ROME. 


241 


the  end  of  this  first  channel  is  a  cross  wall  with  openings, 
protected  by  gratings  to  catch  the  leaves  and  floating  rub- 
bish. Behind  this  is  a  reservoir,  similar  to  the  cisterns  in  use 
in  the  Roman  aqueducts,  allowing  the  mud  to  settle  before 
the  water  entered  the  tunnel.  Next  to  the  tunnel  itself  there 
is  a  closed  building  to  protect  the  canal  from  the  fall  of 
rocks  and  stones,  and  the  actual  entrance  into  the  rock  is 
faced  with  a  massive  portal  of  wedge-shaped  blocks  of  stone. 
The  water  in  this  iuclosure  is  now  used  by  the  fishermen  of 
the  lake  as  a  receptacle  for  keeping  fish,  and  is  for  this  pur- 
pose provided  with  sluices.  Hirt  thinks  that  these  arrange- 
ments at  the  mouth  are  very  ancient.*  Others  ascribe  them 
to  the  imj^erial  era. 

The  point  where  the  tunnel  emerges  from  the  mountain  on 
the  west  of  Castel  Savelli,  nearly  a  mile  from  Albano,  is  called 
Le  Mole.  The  water  was  there  received  in  a  long  troughlike 
reservoir  arched  over  with  a  stone  vaulted  roof.  From  this 
it  ran  through  five  smaller  openings  into  five  separate  chan- 
nels, and  was  so  dispersed  into  the  fields  for  irrigation.  At 
the  present  time  the  whole  stream  is  united,  and  after  passing 
the  road  to  Anzio,  thirteen  miles  from  Rome,  takes  the  name 
of  Rio  d' Albano,  receives  the  brook  from  the  valley  of  Apiolae, 
and  joining  the  Acqua  Acetosa  and  Cornacciola  crosses  the 
Ostian  way  near  Tor  di  Valle,  three  miles  and  a  half  from 
Rome,  and  then  discharges  itself  into  the  Tiber. ^ 

It  is  the  opinion  of  some  archaeologists  that  the  Romans 
brought  engineers  from  Greece  to  superintend  the  Alban 
tunnel.  This  supposition,  however,  is  not  necessary.  If  the 
Italian  engineers  could  construct  the  Cloaca  Maxima  they 
would  be  fully  equal  to  the  task  of  tapping  the  Alban  lake. 

The  physical  conformation  of  Central  Italy  compelled  its 
inhabitants  to  turn  their  attention  at  an  early  period  to  the 
construction  of  drains  and  other  hydraulic  works.  Consider- 
able artificial  channels  were  rendered  necessary  in  order  to 
regulate  the  flow  of  the  Amo  and  Tiber  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Chiusi.  In  southern  Etruria.  the  district  now  known  as 
the  pestilent  Maremma,  could  only  have  been  rendered 
healthy  by  systematic  artificial  drainage.  The  sites  of 
Populonia,  Saturnia ,  Cosa,  Veii,  and  Caere  were  thus  rendered 

^  Hirt,  Gesch.  der  Bau,  ii.  p.  106. 

*  See  map  of  Albano  in  "  Rome  and  the  Campagna." 


i^r^ 


242 


ANCIENT  ROME. 


THE  NEIGHBOURHOOD  OF  ROME. 


243 


habitable  and  fertile,  and  a  great  part  of  Latium  Maritimum, 
the  Pomptine  marshes,  and  the  tract  about  Suessa  Pometia 
must  have  been  artificially  and  skilfully  drained  at  the  time 
of  the  greatest  prosperity  of  those  places.  Many  of  the 
ancient  cities  of  Central  Italy  had  tunnels  bored  underneath 
their  streets  which  served  as  thoroughfares  connecting  the 
different  parts  of  the  city,  or  as  secret  passages  leading  out 
into  the  country.  Such  tunnels  are  found  at  Praeneste  and 
Alba  Fucensis.  An  account  of  the  attempted  escape  of  Marius 
from  Praeneste,  by  means  of  the  tunnels,  is  given  by  Velleius. 
The  catacombs  show  that  the  same  genius  for  tunnelling 
operations  existed  at  a  later  time  among  the  Italians  of  the 
empire. 

Alban  Mount. — The  triumphal  route  by  which  the  festal 
processions  from  Rome  ascended  the  Alban  Mount  diverged 
from  the  Appian  road  at  the  ninth  milestone.  It  probably 
passed  by  Marino  to  Palazzuolo  and  thence  ascended  to  the 
summit  by  a  series  of  zigzags.  The  stones  which  mark  its 
course  have  the  letters  n  v.  (numinis  via)  cut  upon  them. 
On  the  summit  stood  the  Temple  of  Jupiter  Latiaris,  the 
ancient  sanctuary  of  the  Latin  league.  The  sole  remains  of 
this  famous  building  are  "now  built  into  the  wall  of  the  reser- 
voir of  the  convent  of  Palazzuolo.  They  consist  of  fragments 
only. 

Most  of  the  stones  employed  by  Cardinal  York  in  1783  in 
the  erection  of  the  convent  of  Palazzuolo  and  the  church  of 
the  Trinity,  on  the  site  of  the  temple,  were  taken  from  the 
ruins,  but  nothing  can  be  learnt  from  them  regarding  the 
ancient  buildings.  The  summit  of  the  hill  is  not  broad 
enough  to  have  supported  any  large  building,  and  we  may 
therefore  conclude  that  the  temple  was  of  small  size,  and  that 
the  great  festival  games  at  the  Feriee  Latinse  were  held  in  the 
Prati  d'Annibale  below.  The  inscriptions  on  some  of  the 
stones  are  merely  the  freaks  of  some  modem  stonemasons. 
The  fragments  which  remain  were  probably  used  for  the  area 
round  the  temple. 

The  explorations  carried  out  in  1876  seem  to  have  proved 
that  the  buildings  consecrated  to  Jupiter  Latiaris  on  Monte 
Cavo  were  a  walled  area  of  about  65  yards  long  and  50 
wide,  a  fragment  of  the  wall  of  which  was  found ;  a  chapel 
dedicated  to  Jupiter,  one  comer  of  which  was  excavated ;  a 


large  altar,  and  some  other  chapels  dedicated  as  votive  offer- 
ings. A  tracing  of  the  shape  and  position  of  the  area, 
chapels  and  altar  was  found  by  M.  S.  De  Rossi  in  a  seven- 
teenth century  MS.  in  the  Barberini  Library,  and  was  pub- 
lished in  the  Annali  dell'  Instituto  for  1876.  This  traced 
sketch  agrees  with  the  excavations. 

Alba  Longa. — The  early  destruction  of  Alba  Longa,  so 
famous  in  Roman  legendary  lore,  has  completely  deprived  us 
of  the  means  of  tracing  its  site  by  the  discovery  of  any 
remains  of  the  walls  or  buildings  which  it  contained.  It  was 
razed  to  the  ground  by  TuUus  Hostilius  in  b.c.  667  and  never 
rebuilt.  Dionysius  thus  describes  the  site :  **  The  city  was 
built  close  to  the  mountain  and  lake,  upon  a  site  between  the 
two.  Thev  serve  as  defences  to  it,  and  make  it  almost  im- 
pregnable,  for  the  mountain  is  very  steep  and  lofty  and  the 
lake  deep  and  wide."  Livy  says  that  the  city  was  named 
Longa  because  it  extended  along  a  ridge  of  the  Alban  hills. 
The  words  of  Dionysius  seem  to  imply  that  Alba  stood  imme- 
diately between  Monte  Cavo  and  the  lake,  on  the  site  of  the 
convent  of  Palazzuolo,  and  Cav.  Rosa,  a  great  modem  autho- 
rity on  the  toj^ography  of  the  Campagna,  who  has  made  the 
neighbourhood  of  Albano  and  Nemi  the  subject  of  special 
study,  holds  this  opinion.  Nibby  thought  that  the  whole 
edge  of  the  crater  from  Palazzuolo  nearly  to  Marino,  a  distance 
of  more  than  two  miles,  was  occupied  by  the  city  of  Alba. 
Sir  William  Gell  discovered  an  ancient  road  running  along 
the  edge  of  the  crater  above  Monte  Cuccu,  and  a  few  blocks 
of  stone  on  the  top  of  the  precipice  bordering  the  lake  further 
eastwards,  which  he  thought  must  have  belonged  to  the  gate 
of  Alba. 

At  the  sixteenth  milestone  on  the  Appian  road  beyond 
Albano,  in  the  valley  below  the  modem  town  of  Ariccia,  is 
the  massive  causeway  700  feet  in  length  and  40  in  width, 
upon  which  the  old  Appian  road  was  raised.  It  is  built  of 
blocks  of  peperino  and  is  a  solid  mass  of  masonry,  except 
where  three  archways  give  passage  to  the  water  which 
descends  from  the  Alban  hills  and  the  neighbourhood  of 
Nemi. 

Lake  of  Nemi. — Beyond  the  ancient  viaduct  we  come 
to  the  tunnel  through  which  the  lake  of  Nemi  discharges  its 
waters. 


244 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


THE  NEIGHBOURHOOD   OF    ROME. 


245 


The  name  of  this  lake  and  of  the  villac^e  on  its  margin,  is 
derived  from  the  great  grove  of  Diana  (Nemus  Dianae)  whose 
temple  probably  stood  on  the  site  of  the  ]>resent  village  of 
Nemi.  The  wooded  cliffs  which  surround  the  crater  here  are 
steep  and  descend  immediately  into  the  water,  except  on  the 
side  near  Genzano,  where  they  slope  magnificently  and  are 
planted  with  vines.  Their  average  height  is  300  feet.  In  the 
Latin  i)oets  frequent  mention  is  made  of  this  lake  as  one  of 
the  principal  ornaments  of  the  neighbourhood  of  Rome,  and 
in  connection  with  the  widely  celebrated  temple  of  Diana. 
Hence  it  was  called  Speculum  Dianse,  lacus  Trivia?  and  Stag- 
num  Diana;. 

Whether  the  name  Lacus  Aricinus  also  l)elonged  to  this 
lake  is  doubtful,  for  Pliny  speaks  of  a  lake  which  formerly 
occupied  the  valley  of  Ariccia,  and  the  water  in  this  valley 
was  certainly  called  Lacus  Aricinus  in  the  middle  ages. 

The  water  of  the  lake  is  supplied  partially  at  least  from  a 
small  spring  near  the  road  from  Genzano  to  Nemi,  and  also 
from  the  copious  stream  which  turns  the  mills  of  the  village 
of  Nemi.  The  latter  is  probably  alluded  to  by  Strabo  when 
he  savs  that  the  sources  whence  the  lake  is  filled  are  visible, 
and  are  near  the  temple  of  Diana. 

The  mention  of  paving  tiles,  marbles,  and  leaden  pipes 
as  among  the  objects  raised  from  the  bottom  of  the  lake, 
renders  the  notion  that  they  belonged  to  a  ship  impro- 
bable, and  Nibby's  conjecture  that  a  Roman  villa,  partly 
built  out  into  the  water,  stood  here,  seems  much  more  likely, 
though  his  application  of  the  passage  of  Suetonius  is  very 
doubtful.' 

Cav.  Rosa,  who  examined  the  neighbourhood  of  Nemi  and 
Genzano  with  a  special  view  to  the  solution  of  the  question  of 
the  site  of  the  Temple  of  Artemis,  has  given  a  careful  account 
both  of  the  ruins  under  Genzano  and  those  to  the  west  of  Nemi. 
The  former  he  pronounces  undoubtedly  to  belong  to  a  villa, 
the  latter  he  thinks  belonged  to  a  temple  with  a  large  court 
in  front,  and  an  ancient  road  leading  to  it  from  the  western 
side  of  the  lake.  These  ruins  are  just  above  the  lower  road 
leading  from  the  Capuccini  convent  at  Genzano  to  Nemi,  at 
the  point  where  a  cross  road  leads  to  the  left  and  joins  the 

*  Nibby,  Analisi,  ii.  305. 


higher  road  to  Nemi,  not  far  from  the  place  called  le  Mole.^ 
Genzano  is  a  town  of  mediaeval  origin. 


II.  The  Via  Latina  and  Tusculum. 

Latin  Road. — The  modern  Porta  Giovanni  is  now  the  point 
at  which  the  new  road  to  Albano,  and  also  that  to  Frascati, 
leave  Rome.  The  Latin  road  anciently  diverged,  after  passing 
the  Porta  Capena,  from  the  Alban  road  and  had  a  gate  of  its 
own  in  Aurelian's  wall,  called  the  Porta  Latina,  now  walled 
up  (see  p.  247). 

The  old  Via  Latina  is  unfortunately  now  almost  lost,  and 
can  only  be  traced  by  the  lines  of  ruined  tombs  which  mark 
its  former  course.  After  leaving  the  old  Porta  Latina  it  runs 
along  the  edge  of  the  hills  which  fringe  the  right  bank  of  the 
Caffarelli  valley,  and  crosses  the  new  road  to  Albano  at  the 
second  milestone,  at  a  point  on  the  other  side  of  the  valley 
almost  opposite  to  the  so-called  fountain  of  Egeria. 

Tombs  on  Latin  Road. — Not  far  from  this  spot  some 
very  interesting  tombs  were  excavated  in  1860.  A  full 
account  of  them  has  been  given  in  the  '*  Annali  dell'  Instituto 
di  Corrispondenza  Archeologica  "  for  1860.  The  sarcophagi 
and  stucco  ornaments  are  the  most  perfect  remains  of  the 
kind  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Rome.  These  sepulchral  monu- 
ments are  near  the  remains  of  the  Basilica  of  S.  Stefano,  a 
ruin  of  the  fifth  century,  and  on  the  farm  which  bears  the 
name  of  Arco  Travertino  from  the  travertine  arches  of  the 
Claudian  Aqueduct  which  cross  it.  The  ancient  pavement  of 
the  Latin  road  has  been  uncovered  in  some  places  near  the 
tombs,  and  also  some  traces  of  a  villa,  which  probably  belonged 
to  the  Servilian  and  Anician  families,  have  been  excavated. 
The  portico  of  the  tomb  which  faces  the  southern  side  of  the 
road  leads  down  to  two  large  vaults,  in  the  outer  of  which 
stand  the  mutilated  remains  of  a  marble  sarcophagus  in  a 
niche,  while  the  inner  vault  is  decorated  with  well-preserved 
stucco  ornaments  in  relief,  representing  sea-monsters  and 
nymphs.  Some  of  the  marble  casing  which  covered  the  walls 
remains,  but  no  name  has  been  found  on  the  bricks  or  stones. 

^  Annali  e  Monumenti  dell'  Inst.  1856. 


H^ 


W. 


THE  NEIGHBOURHOOD   OF   ROME. 


247 


lf< 


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O 

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In  the  tomb  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  road  there  is  a  well- 
preserved  mosaic  with  figures  of  sea-monsters  at  the  entrance, 
and  below  are  paintings  of  birds  upon  the  arches  which  sup- 


PoRTA  Latin  A. 


port  the  sarcophagi  in  the  outer  chamber,  and  an  inscription 
which  gives  the  name  of  the  Pancratii  as  the  owners  of  the 
tomb.     The  family  .figures  and  profiles  are  only   sketched 


ii 


H 


m 


248 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


roughly  in  outline,  as  is  common  in  the  catacombs.  The  roof 
of  the  inner  chamber  in  this  second  tomb  is  exquisitely  orna- 
mented with  paintings  and  stucco  reliefs,  representing  mytho- 
logical subjects  and  landscapes.  In  the  centre  a  large  marble 
sarcophagus  containing  places  for  two  bodies  is  left  standing. 
This  sarcophagus  is  plain  and  without  any  decoration.  The 
date  of  this  tomb  cannot  precede  the  Antonine  era,  as  there 
are  no  cinerary  urns  in  it. 

Torre  Fiscale. — At  the  fourth  milestone  from  the  Porta 
Capena,  the  Latin  road  passed  under  the  arches  of  the  Claudian 
and  Marcian  aqueducts,  at  the  tower  now  called  Torre  Fiscale. 
At  this  point  the  two  aqueducts  cross  each  other,  and  present 
a  most  magnificent  series  of  arcades  running  along  the  side  of 
the  old  Latin  road  for  more  than  a  mile.  Tlie  arches  of  the 
Claudian  aqueduct  are  here  more  than  50  feet  in  height. 
The  railway  to  Naples  runs  very  close  to  the  line  of  the  old 
Latin  road  here. 

A  great  number  of  ruins  are  still  to  be  seen  at  a  place 
called  Sette  Bassi,  four  miles  and  a  half  from  the  Porta  S. 
Giovanni  and  near  the  Osteria  del  Curato.  This  spot,  as  well 
as  the  district  near  it  on  the  Appian  road,  bears  the  name  of 
Roma  Vecchia.  The  scattered  ruins  occupy  a  space  of  nearly 
three-quarters  of  a  mile  in  circumference,  and  appear  to  have 
been  built  at  two  different  epochs.  The  bricks  of  which  one 
portion  of  them  is  constructed  have  the  dates  a.d.  123  and  134 
upon  them,  the  years  when  Poetinus  and  Africanus  and  Ser- 
vianus  and  Juventius  were  consuls.  The  other  part  of  the 
building  is  evidently  contemporaneous  with  the  ruins  on  the 
Appian  road  and  belongs  to  the  Antonine  era.  All  the  bricks 
were  made  at  one  of  the  imperial  kilns,  and  it  has  therefore 
been  generally  supposed  that  the  villa  was  an  imperial  resi- 
dence, forming  a  part  of  the  already-mentioned  Suburbanum 
Commodi.  The  marbles  found  on  the  spot  show  that  it  was 
decorated  with  great  magnificence,  and  a  particular  kind  of 
breccia,  numerous  fragments  of  which  have  been  picked  up 
there,  obtains  its  name.  Breccia  di  Sette  Bassi,  from  the  place. 

The  plan,  according  to  Nibby,  was  that  of  a  large  oblong 
area,  the  longer  sides  of  which  ran  north  and  south.  In  the 
centre  there  was  room  for  a  large  pleasure  garden.  The  front 
of  the  buildings  was  at  the  northern  end  towards  Rome,  and 
the  remains  of  a  portico  can  be  traced,  which  supported  a 


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250 


ANCIENT    ROME. 


THE   NEIGHBOURHOOD   OF   ROME. 


251 


terrace  on  a  level  with  the  first  floor  rooms  of  the  mansion. 
One  of  these  rooms  with  three  doors  and  the  same  number  of 
windows  can  still  he  traced.  In  some  of  the  walls  the  remains 
may  he  seen  of  terra-cotta  pipes  for  heatinj?  the  rooms.  The 
ground  floor  apartments  were  without  decorations,  and  are 
therefore  supposed  to  have  served  as  storehouses  for  grain  and 
farm  produce.' 

Behind  this  front  building,  on  the  eastern  and  western 
sides,  are  long  ranges  of  building,  the  eastern  consisting  of 
two  suites  of  rooms,  probably  intended  for  baths  or  for  gym- 
nasia, and  the  western  forming  a  long  ambulacrum  terminated 
by  an  exedra.  On  the  south  side  there  is  a  cryptoporticus  and 
a  reservoir  for  water  which  was  supplied  by  a  branch  of  the 
Claudian  aqueduct. 

About  a  quarter  of  a  mile  farther  south,  near  the  Latin 
road,  there  is  an  outlying  building  which  seems  to  have  been 
intended  to  command  a  view  of  that  road.  The  railway  to 
Frascati  now  runs  between  the  Claudian  aqueduct  and  these 
ruins. 

The  castella  of  the  Aqua  Marcia,  the  Tepula,  the  Julia,  the 
Claudia,  the  Anio  Vetus,  and  the  Anio  Nova  lie  on  the  right 
of  the  old  Latin  road  here,  at  the  sixth  milestone,  where  the 
arcades  make  a  right  angle.  The  old  road  then  runs  to  the 
right  of  the  present  road  to  Frascati,  nearly  on  the  line  of 
the  modem  Strada  di  Grotta  Ferrata,  and  ascending  the 
8l<)i>es  of  the  Alban  Hills,  passes  l)ehind  Tusculum  and  Corbio, 
along  the  valley  called  Vallis  Albana. 

Tusculum. — Since  the  excavations  carried  out  by  Lucien 
Bonaj)arte  at  the  beginning  of  this  century,  there  has  been  no 
doubt  left  as  to  the  site  of  the  ancient  city  of  Tusculum.  The 
ruins  lie  from  alwut  a  mile  and  a  half  to  two  miles  above 
Frascati,  upon  the  ridge  forming  the  edge  of  the  most  ancient 
crater  of  the  Alban  Hills.  Between  this  ridge  which  bore  the 
name  of  Tusculani  CoUes,  and  the  hills  ui)on  which  Marino 
and  Kocca  di  Papa  stand,  the  great  Latin  road  ran.  Tusculum 
stiinds  just  over  this  road,  and  was  approached  from  it  by  a 
steep  path  ascending  the  northern  side  of  the  valley.  The 
main  road  entered  the  city  on  the  other  side,  from  the  direc- 
tion of  Frascati  and  Rufiiaella,  leaving  the  Via  Latina  at  the 

'  Nibby   Anal.  iii.  p.  736. 


tenth  milestone,  between  Morena  and  Ciampino.  The  ancient 
pavement  of  this  road  can  be  clearly  traced  on  the  slope  of 
the  hill  above  Frascati,  and  it  leads  us  along  the  top  of  the 
hill  through  what  has  plainly  been  the  main  street  of  the 
town  to  the  citadel,  which  stood  at  the  eastern  extremity. 

The  site  of  the  citadel  is  a  platform  nearly  square  and 
2,700  feet  in  circuit,  standing  about  200  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  surrounding  parts  of  the  hill.  Its  walls  were  com- 
pletely demolished  by  the  Romans  in  1191  and  not  a  vestige 
of  them  is  left.  Sir  William  Gell  thought,  however,  that  he 
could  discover  the  traces  of  four  ancient  gates,  one  on  the  west, 
another  on  the  side  of  the  Alban  valley,  a  third  on  the  eastern 
side,  and  not  far  from  this  last,  a  postern  communicating  with 
a  steep  and  rocky  path  which  descended  to  the  Alban  valley. 
Most  of  the  ruins  now  visible  belong  to  the  mediaeval  fortress 
of  the  Dukes  of  Tusculum,  and  a  few  only  of  the  quadrilateral 
blocks  of  the  ancient  inclosure  are  visible.  In  the  ^quian 
and  Volscian  wars  this  citadel  played  an  important  part.  It 
must  therefore  have  been  a  fortress  of  considerable  strength 
from  very  early  times.  Dionysius  describes  it  as  a  very 
strong  position,  requiring  but  a  small  garrison  to  hold  it,  and 
adds  that  tlie  whole  country,  as  far  as  the  gates  of  Rome,  is 
plainly  visible  from  it,  so  that  the  defenders  could  see  the 
Roman  forces  issuing  from  the  Porta  Latina.  The  city  itself 
lay  on  the  ridge  of  the  hill  westwards  from  the  citadel.  The 
area  which  it  occupied  is  an  oblong  strip  of  ground  about 
3,000  feet  long,  and  from  500  to  1,000  feet  in  width.  On  the 
north  and  south  sides  the  limits  of  the  city  are  clearly  marked 
by  the  edges  of  the  hill,  but  on  the  west  they  are  not  so  easily 
defined. 

Theatre. — At  the  foot  of  the  descent  from  the  citadel  are 
the  ruins  of  a  large  water  tank  of  an  oblong  shape  divided 
into  four  compartments  by  three  rows  of  piers,  and  imme- 
diately under  this  tank  is  a  small  theatre  built  of  peperino, 
which  was  excavated  by  the  dowager  Queen  of  Sardinia  Maria 
Christina  in  1839  and  1840.  This,  with  the  exception  of  the 
theatres  at  Pompeii,  is  the  most  perfectly  preserved  in  Italy. 
The  walls  of  the  scena  are  unfortunately  destroyed,  but  the 
ground  plan  of  it  can  still  be  traced.  The  stage,  which 
abuts  closely  on  the  western  side  of  the  semicircular  cavea, 
is  110  feet  in  length,  and  20  feet  in  depth.     It  has  the  three 


1 


k,'- 


252 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


THE   NEIGHBOURHOOD   OF   ROME. 


253 


||MI 


usual  entrances  from  the  back,  and  one  at  each  end.  These 
opi*n  into  a  corridor  and  communicate  with  two  chambers, 
probably  used  as  dressing  rooms  by  the  actors.  Nearly  the 
whole  of  the  fifteen  rows  of  seats  in  the  lower  division  are 
still  preserved  unl)roken,  but  the  upper  part  which  contained, 
to  judge  by  the  height  of  the  outer  walls  still  remaining,  about 
nine  rows  of  seats,  is  entirely  destroyed. 

Other  Ruins. — The  curved  walls  on  the  northern  side  of 
the  theatre  were  supjx)sed  by  Nibby  to  have  belonged  to 
another  theatre,  but  are  now  generally  believed  to  have  been  a 
part  of  a  fountain  connected  with  the  above-mentioned  reser- 
voir. Along  the  northern  side  of  the  reservoir  are  two  parallel 
walls,  which  apparently  inclosed  the  street  leading  to  the 
citadel.  The  roadway  must  have  been  here  carried  by  an 
arched  corridor  under  the  side  of  the  theatre. 

Gate  and  Walls. — Near  the  ancient  road  from  the  theatre 
westwards  is  a  mass  of  ruins  the  plan  of  which  cannot  be 
determined,  and  beyond  these,  not  far  from  the  point  where 
the  road  divides,  and  on  its  right-hand  branch,  is  one  of  the 
gates  of  the  city,  marked  by  two  fragments  of  ancient  fluted 
columns  which  perhaps  formed  a  part  of  its  architecture. 
Near  this  are  the  remains  of  the  ancient  north  wall  of  the 
city,  consisting  of  blocks  of  peperino  of  great  size  more  or  less 
regularly  laid,  and  of  restorations  here  and  there  in  reticulated 
work,  partly  of  the  later  republic,  and  partly  of  more  modern 
times.  The  pavement  of  the  street  is  here  i)erfectly  j^reserved, 
and  near  the  gateway  there  is  a  wide  space  left,  probably  as 
a  turning  place  for  carts  or  carriages. 

Tank  and  Fountain. — In  the  walls  near  this  point  is  a 
stone  doorway  leading  into  a  stone  water-tank,  with  a  pointed 
roof  formed  by  overlapping  stones,  on  the  same  principle  as 
the  roof  of  the  so-called  Mamertine  prison  at  Rome,  the  gate 
of  Arpinum  and  the  treasuries  of  Mycenae  and  Orchomenos. 
The  doorway  is  about  10  feet  high  and  5  wide,  and  the  tank 
of  the  same  dimensions.  In  the  interior  are  three  divisions  or 
basins  for  water,  and  at  the  back  an  aqueduct  enters  by  means 
of  which  the  water  was  supplied.  At  the  side  of  this  tank 
there  is  a  small  ancient  fountain  under  the  wall  which 
was  supplied  from  the  tank  by  a  leaden  pipe.  An  inscription 
on  the  fountain  records  that  it  was  made  by  the  ^diles 
Quintus  Cselius  Latinus,  son  of  Quintus,  and  Marcus  Decumo, 


by  command  of  the  Senate  of  Tusculum.  Not  far  from  the 
fountain  was  found  the  fifteenth  milestone  from  Rome. 

On  the  road  to  Frascati,  near  the  point  where  the  western 
gate  of  the  city  has  been  supposed  to  have  stood,  the  remains 
of  an  amphitheatre  can  be  discovered.  The  seats  are  entirely 
destroyed,  and  it  is  only  by  the  oval  shape  and  by  the  position 
of  the  substruction  that  the  ruins  can  be  recognized  as  those 
of  an  amphitheatre.  A  round  tomb  stands  a  little  above  the 
amphitheatre,  and  beyond  this  the  ruins  of  a  large  villa  called 
Scuola  di  Cicerone  cover  the  side  of  the  hill  towards  the  Alban 
valley. 

The  legend  which  ascribes  the  foundation  of  Tusculum  to 
Telegonus,  the  son  of  Circe  and  Ulysses,  is  familiar  to  all 
readers  of  the  Latin  poets.  It  is  remarkable,  however,  that 
Virgil,  who  mentions  most  of  the  towns  of  Latium,  has  en- 
tirely omitted  to  notice  Tusculum.  This  may  be  mere  acci- 
dent, or  it  may  be  attributable  to  a  grudge  similar  to  that 
which  led  him,  according  to  Aulus  Gellius,  to  omit  Nola  from 
the  lines  in  the  Georgics  celebrating  the  fertility  of  Campania, 
but  it  certainly  cannot  be  due  to  the  fear  of  making  an 
anachronism,  as  Nibby  supposes.  In  the  times  of  the  Latin 
league,  from  the  fall  of  Alba  to  the  battle  of  the  Lake  Regillus, 
Tusculum  was  the  most  prominent  town  in  Latium.  It 
suffered,  like  the  other  towns  of  Latium,  a  complete  eclipse 
during  the  later  republic  and  the  imperial  times,  but  in  the 
ninth,  tenth,  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries  under  the  counts 
of  Tusculum  it  became  again  a  place  of  great  importance  and 
power,  no  less  than  seven  Popes  of  their  house  having  sat  in 
the  chair  of  St.  Peter.  The  final  destruction  of  the  city 
is  placed  by  Nibby,  following  the  account  given  in  the  records 
of  the  Podesta  of  Reggio,  on  the  1st  of  April,  a.d.  1191, 
in  which  year  the  city  was  given  up  to  the  Romans  by  the 
Emperor  Henry  VI.,  and  after  the  withdrawal  of  the  German 
garrison,  was  sacked  and  razed  to  the  ground.  Those  of  the 
inhabitants  who  escaped  collected  round  the  church  of  S. 
Sebastian  on  the  foot  of  the  hill,  in  the  district  called  Frascati, 
whence  the  town  of  Frascati  took  its  origin  and  name.  They 
founded  their  new  town  upon  the  remains  of  an  ancient  villa, 
which  stood  near  the  round  tomb  which  still  remains  on  the 
road  to  the  Villa  della  Rufinella.  The  name  of  Lucullus  has 
been  attached  to  this  villa  and  tomb  from  the  statement  of 


254 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


Plutarch  that  Lucullus  was  buried  by  his  brother  at  his  Tus- 
culan  villa.  It  is,  however,  much  more  probable  that  the 
larger  round  tomb  in  the  Vigna  Angelotti  on  the  road  towards 
Rome  was  the  burial-place  of  Lucullus. 

Scuola  di  Cicerone.— The  building  now  called  Scuola  di 
Cicerone  is  not  far  from  the  ruins  of  the  western  gate  of  Tus- 
culum.  Tlie  ground  floor  is  apparently  about  270  feet  in 
length  and  100  in  depth,  but  the  upper  parts  of  the  buildings 
have  now  completely  disappeared.  The  materials  were  of 
brick  and  reticulated  work,  similar  to  that  now  found  in  the 
gardens  of  Sallust  at  Rome,  and  generally  considered  as  be- 
Tonging  to  the  last  age  of  the  Republic  or  the  early  Empire. 
The  ground  floor  had  a  cryptoporticus  along  its  whole  length, 
and  above  this  on  the  first  floor  was  probably  an  oi)en  portico 
with  a  colonnade.  Eight  large  rooms  opened  out  behind  the 
cryptoporticus,  in  the  second  of  which  are  the  remains  of  some 
stairs,  and  at  the  back  of  the  eighth  a  recess.  At  the  ends  of 
the  cryptoporticus  are  the  remains  of  some  more  rooms. 
There  are  no  signs  of  decoration  on  any  of  the  walls,  and 
therefore  this  lowest  story  of  the  building  is  supposed 
to    have    been    used    as   a  storehouse  for    corn    and  farm 

produce. 

There  is,  however,  no  evidence  whatever  to  connect  these 
ruins  with  Cicero's  Villa.  The  only  indication  we  have 
of  its  site  is  given  by  the  Scholiast  on  Horace,  who  speaks 
of  it  as  situated  near   Tusculum   on   the   upper   slopes   of 

the  hill.^ 

Villa  of  Gabinius.— This  will  agree  either  with  the  rums 
just  described  or  with  those  found  in  1741  under  the  modem 
Villa  Rufinella,  which  is  a  little  way  lower  down  the  western 
slope.  That  Cicero's  Villa  was  upon  the  upper  part  of  the  hill 
is  confirmed  by  his  own  statement  that  it  was  so  near  that  of 
the  consul  Gabinius,  that  at  the  time  of  Cicero's  exile,  not  only 
the  furniture  but  the  trees  in  his  garden  were  transferred  to 
the  Villa  of  Gabinius,  and  we  also  find  that  this  latter  villa 
was  upon  the  upper  part  of  the  hill.  Nibby  accordingly  places 
the  Villa  of  Gabinius  on  the  site  of  the  modem  Villa  Falconieri 
close  to  the  Rufinella. 

Several  particulars  about  his  villa  are  mentioned  by  Cicero 

1  Schol.  ad  Hor.  Ep.  i.  29. 


THE   NEIGHBOURHOOD   OF   ROME. 


255 


himself.  It  contained  two  rooms  called  gymnasia,  to  the 
upper  of  which  he  gave  the  name  of  Lyceum,  and  which  con- 
tained his  library.  The  lower  gymnasium  was  called  the 
Academy  in  honour  of  Plato. 

The  Lyceum  seems  to  have  been  used  in  the  morning,  and 
the  Academia  in  the  afternoon,  as  being  more  sheltered  from 
the  heat  of  the  sun. 

The  Hermathena,  a  double-headed  bust  of  Hermes  and 
Athena,  mentioned  in  the  letters  to  Atticus,  was  probably 
placed  in  the  Lyceum,  for  the  phrase  he  uses  there  seems  to 
refer  to  Apollo  as  the  patron  of  the  gymnasium,  in  which  it 
was  placed.  There  were  also  some  Hermae  of  Pentelic  marble, 
bronze  busts,  and  Megarian  statues  placed  in  the  gymnasia, 
and  Atticus  had  a  general  commission  to  buy  up  anything 
which  he  might  think  suitable  for  these  rooms. 

Another  part  of  the  villa  was  called  the  atriolum.  Nibby 
has  shown  from  one  of  the  letters  to  Quintus  that  the  atriolum 
of  a  villa  was  a  small  courtyard  surrounded  with  bedchambers 
and  oflSces.  The  Tusculan 'atriolum  was  decorated  with  stucco 
reliefs  on  the  walls,  like  those  in  the  tombs  on  the  Latin  Road. 


III.  Gabii  and  Pr^neste. 

Tomb  of  Atta. — The  road  to  Gabii  and  Prseneste  leaves 
Rome  at  the  Porta  Maggiore.  The  most  conspicuous  ruin, 
which  it  passes  at  about  one  mile  from  the  walls  of  Rome,  is  a 
very  large  circular  sepulchral  monument  more  than  100  feet 
in  diameter,  to  which  the  name  of  Quintus  Atta  has  been 
attached. 

Villa  Gordiana. — Beyond  this,  at  a  distance  of  two  miles 
and  a  half  from  Rome,  we  come  to  the  remains  of  a  vast  villa, 
which  has  been  identified  with  that  spoken  of  by  Julius 
Capitolinus  in  his  history  of  the  Gordian  family.  That 
historian  says  that  their  '*  country  house  was  situated  on  the 
road  to  Praeneste,  and  was  remarkable  for  the  magnificence  of 
a  portico  with  four  ranges  of  columns,  fifty  of  which  were  of 
Carystian,  fifty  of  Claudian,  fifty  of  Synnadan  and  fifty  of 
Numidian  marble.  There  were'  also  three  basilicas  in  it, 
each  of  100  feet  in  length,  and  other  buildings  of  corre- 
sponding size,  in  particular  some  Thermae  more  magnificent 


256 


ANCIENT  ROME. 


than  any  others  in  the  world  except  those  at  Kome."  The 
ruins  of  this  great  imperial  villa  extend  for  nearly  a  mile 
along  the  road,  consisting  chiefly  of  some  huge  reservoirs  for 
water,  two  spacious  halls  belonging  to  the  Thermae,  a  round 
temple  or  Heroon,  and  a  stadium  surrounded  with  arcades. 
The  style  of  construction  in  most  of  these  is  the  irregular 
brickwork  with  thick  layers  of  mortar  which  is  known  to  be 
characteristic  of  the  third  century.  Gordian  III.  was  killed 
in  A.D.  244.  The  great  reservoirs  are  close  to  the  road,  two 
on  the  left  and  two  on  the  right-hand  side,  beyond  the  depres- 
sion in  which  the  stream  called  Acqua  Bollicante  runs,  where 
the  ground  rises  towards  the  hill  of  Torre  de'  Schiavi.  Some 
of  them  appear  to  be  of  an  earlier  date  than  the  reigns  of  the 
Gordians,  and  are  referred  by  Nibby  to  the  Antonine  epoch. 
The  brickwork  of  these  last  is  more  regular,  and  they  contain 
a  good  deal  of  reticulated  work  and  layers  of  squared  tufa 
stones.  The  two  large  halls  which  belonged  to  the  Thermae 
are  to  the  east  of  the  reservoirs.  One  of  them  was  a  spacious 
octagonal  building  with  round  windows.  It  was  occupied  as 
a  fortress  or  watch-tower  in  the  middle  ages,  and  has  been 
repaired  in  the  style  called  Saracenesca.  In  the  walls  of  this 
may  be  seen  the  earliest  instances  of  a  mode  of  construction 
afterwards,  as  in  the  Circus  of  Maxentius,  very  common,  the 
introduction  of  jars  of  terra-cotta  in  the  walls  to  make  the 
work  lighter.  The  interior  is  ornamented  with  niches  alter- 
nately square  and  circular  headed,  and  retaining  some  of  their 
ancient  stucco  decorations. 

The  other  hall  of  the  Thermae  stands  not  far  off,  and  is 
circular  with  a  domed  roof. 

The  Heroon,  or  circular  temple,  of  which  mention  has  been 
made,  is  similar  to  that  near  the  Circus  of  Maxentius.  The 
diameter  of  this  is  56  feet,  and  it  was  lighted  by  four  large 
round  windows.  The  front  was  turned  towards  the  road 
according  to  the  rule  laid  down  by  the  architect  Vitruvius. 
Underneath,  there  is  a  crypt  supported  by  a  massive  round 
pillar,  and  containing  six  niches.  In  this,  Nibby  thinks  that 
the  ashes  of  the  dead  were  placed,  as  their  statues  were  in 
the  temple  above,  and  that  the  building  was  the  Heroon  of  the 
reigning  family.  In  the  middle  ages  this  Heroon  was  used  as 
a  church,  and  some  of  the  paintings  then  introduced  are  still 
visible  on  the  interior  walls.     Not  far  from  the  Heroon  are 


THE  NEIGHBOURHOOD  OF   ROME. 


257 


the  ruins  of  the  arcades  which  surrounded  the  stadium  and 
bounded  the  domain  of  the  villa  on  the  east  side. 

Torre  Pignatara.— In  this  district,  but  along  the  ancient 
Via  Labicana  which  runs  in  the  direction  of  Frascati,  stands 
the  consi>icuous  tower  now  called  Torre  Pignatara  from  its 
construction  with  pigne  or  earthern  pots.  It  surmounts  a 
large  circular  hall  and  a  catacomb  to  which  the  titles  of  S. 
Helena's  Mausoleum  and  the  Chapels  of  SS.  Peter  and  Mar- 
cellinus  have  been  given,  but  the  real  history  of  the  building 
is  unknown. 

Ponte  di  None. — At  the  ninth  milestone  on  the  road  to 
Palestrina,  where  the  road  crosses  a  small  brook,  is  a  magnifi- 
cent monument  of  ancient  Roman  architecture,  consisting  of 
an  arched  viaduct  built  of  peperino  and  tufa  blocks.  The 
length  of  this  viaduct  is  105  yards,  and  the  highest  of  the 
seven  arches  about  50  feet.  The  blocks  of  stone  used  are  in 
some  cases  10  feet  in  length,  and  they  are  firmly  fitted  together 
without  any  kind  of  cement.  This  viaduct  is  now  called 
Ponte  di  Nono.^  The  ancient  roadway  of  polygonal  fragments 
of  basalt  still  remains,  but  the  parapet  on  each  side  has  been 
destroyed. 

Gabii. — At  a  distance  of  about  three  miles  beyond  the 
Ponte  di  Nono  are  the  ruins  of  Gabii  on  the  edge  of  the  lake 
called  Lago  di  Pantano  in  the  district  of  Castiglione.  Nume- 
rous traces  of  the  ancient  city  are  still  visible.  It  occupied  a 
long  strip  of  ground  extending  from  the  sepulchral  mound  on 
the  right  of  the  road  near  the  outlet  of  the  lake  to  the  tower 
of  Castiglione.  Nibby  thinks  that  this  tower  stands  on  the 
spot  formerly  occupied  by  the  citadel  of  Gabii,  the  original 
stronghold  founded  according  to  the  legend  by  a  colony  from 
Alba.  In  the  year  1 792  extensive  excavations  were  made  on 
the  site  by  Prince  Marcantonio  Borghese  at  the  suggestion  of 
Mr.  Hamilton  a  Scotch  jjainter,  and  a  quantity  of  sculptures 
and  inscriptions  now  in  the  Louvre  at  Paris  were  discovered. 
The  principal  ruins  now  remaining  are  those  of  the  cella  of  a 
temple  built  of  the  famous  lapis  Gabinus,  and  some  steps  in 
a  semicircular  form,  probably  the  remains  of  a  theatre.  The 
temple  is  generally  supposed  to  have  been  that  of  Juno  alluded 
to  by  Virgil. 


*  Canina,  Mon.  dell'  Arch.  ant.  tav.  183. 


s 


..■px 


m- 


ANCIENT   UOME. 

The  form  of  tliis  temple  was  almost  identical  with  that  at 
Aricia.  The  interior  of  the  cella  was  27  feet  wide  and  45  feet 
lon^'.  It  had  columns  of  the  Doric  order  in  front  and  at  the 
sides,  but  none  at  the  back.  The  walls  of  the  chamber  at  the 
back  were  here,  as  at  Aricia,  prolonged  on  each  side,  so  as  to 
close  the  side  porticoes  at  the  back.  The  surrounding  area 
was  alnnit  54  feet  in  breadth  at  the  sides,  but  in  front  a  space 
of  only  8  feet  was  left  open,  in  consequence  of  the  position  of 
the  tlieatre,  which  abutted  closely  upon  the  temple.  On  the 
eastern  side  of  the  cella  are  traces  of  the  rooms  where  the 
}>riests  in  charge  of  the  temjde  lived. 

The  shape  of  the  forum  can  only  be  partially  made  out. 
From^  the  plan  published  in  the  "  Monumenti  Gabinoborghe- 
siani,"  itapj>ears  that  it  was  a  rectangular  quadrilateral  space, 
traversed  by  the  Via  Prsenestina  at  the  southern  end,  and  that 
it  was  surrounded  with  a  i>ortico  of  Dorit-  columns  except  at 
the  end  along  which  the  Via  Prsenestina  was  carried.  It  was 
believed  at  the  time  when  the  excavations  were  made  that  the 
Curia  and  Augusteum  could  be  distinguished  among  the 
surrounding  buildings,  but  this  seems  now  to  be  very  doubtful. 
In  the  centre  stood  the  statue  of  Titus  Flavius  ^lianus,  the 
patron  of  the  borough  town.  The  pedestal  of  this  statue  with 
its  inscription  was  found  in  situ  m  1 792. 

*•  The  stone  of  Gabii  quarried  near  the  lake  and  the  product 
of  its  extinct  volcano,  is  used  in  many  of  the  Roman  buildings 
and  esj)ecially  in  the  building  called  the  tabularium  at  the 
head  of  the  Forum  Romanum.  It  is  a  hard  species  of  peperino, 
of  a  brownish. grey  colour,  which  when  exposed  to  the  air 
becomes  paler  than  the  common  peperino  of  Albano.  It  resists 
the  action  of  fire,  and  is  a  compound  of  volcanic  ashes  mixed 
with  small  fragments  of  black,  brown,  and  reddish  lava,  scales 
of  mica,  and  bits  of  Apennine  limestone."  * 

The  city  of  Gabii  lost  its  independence  soon  after  the 
beginning  of  the  Republican  em  of  Rome.  It  was  restored  as 
a  colony  of  veterans  by  Sylla,  but  sank  into  obscurity,  and 
became  almost  proverbial  for  its  desolate  condition  in  the 
Augustan  era.  It  afterwards  recovered  its  prosperity  in  some 
degree  by  means  of  the  celebrity  of  its  cold  baths,  and  in  the 
time  of  Hadrian  was  patronised  by  the  Emperor,  who  built 

^  Nibby,  Anal.  vol.  ii.  p.  87. 


THE  NEIGHBOURHOOD  OF   ROME. 


259 


an  aqueduct  and  a  Curia  ^Elia  there.  The  inscriptions  found 
on  the  spot  l)elong  chiefly  to  the  Antonine  era,  and  the  busts 
of  Severus  and  Geta  also  found  there  show  that  in  the  first 
part  of  the  third  century  Gabii  was  still  a  flourishing  borough 
town. 

Labicum. — The  most  conspicuous  outlying  hill  of  the 
volcanic  district  not  far  from  Gabii  is  that  of  La  Colonna, 
about  three  miles  below  Rocca  Priora.  It  stands  apart  from 
the  rest  of  the  range,  and  is  easily  seen  from  Rome.  From 
Strabo's  descrii)ti()n  of  the  site  of  Labicum  there  can  be  but 
little  doubt  that  this  hill  must  be  considered  to  be  the  place 
to  which  he  refers  in  his  account  of  the  Via  Labicana.  "  That 
road,"  he  says,  "  begins  at  the  Esquiline  Gate,  at  which  the 
Prsenestine  Road  also  leaves  the  city,  and  leaving  both  this 
latter  and  the  Esquiline  plain  on  the  left,  proceeds  for  more 
than  a  hundred  and  twenty  stadia  (fifteen  and  a  half  Roman 
miles)  till  it  reaches  Labicum,  an  old,  dismantled  city,  lying 
on  a  mount.  The  road  leaves  it  and  Tusculum  on  the  right, 
and  ends  at  the  station  called  ad  Pictas,  where  it  joins  the 
Latin  Road."  There  are  no  ancient  ruins  now  on  the  spot. 
In  Strabo's  lime  it  was  apparently  ruined  and  deserted,  and 
at  an  earlier  date  Cicero  says  that  it  was  difficult  to  find  any 
inhabitant  to  represent  Labicum  at  the  Ferise  Latinse.  It 
seems  probable,  therefore,  that  it  suffered  severely  in  the 
civil  wars  of  Sylla  and  Marius,  and  did  not  recover  itself 
until  the  establishment  of  an  imperial  villa  there  gave  it 
some  importance. 

Prseneste.— Beyond  La  Colonna,  the  ancient  Labicum,  by 
far  the  most  important  place  on  the  ^quian  frontier  was  the 
strong  fortress-town  of  Praeneste,  now  Palestrina,  which  com- 
mands the  passage  from  Latium  into  the  valley  of  the  Sacco. 
Prseneste  is  placed  on  one  of  the  projecting  spurs  of  the 
mountainous  district  which  intervenes  between  the  Anio  and 
the  Sacco.  Standing,  as  the  city  does,  more  than  2,100  feet 
above  the  sea  level,  it  forms  a  very  conspicuous  object  in  the 
view  from  the  hills  of  Rome. 

After  its  eventful  history  as  the  great  border  fortress  of 
Latium,  we  can  only  wonder  that  it  has  been  foimd  possible 
to  restore  the  ancient  plan  of  Praeneste  with  tolerable 
accuracy,  as  has  been  done  by  Nibby  and  other  archaeologists. 
The  modern  town,  an  agglomeration  of  filthy  narrow  alleys. 


260 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


THE  NEIGHBOURHOOD  OF   ROME. 


261 


occupies  little  more  than  the  space  on  which  stood  the  great 
Temple  of  Fortune  and  its  approaches.  Nearly  a  mile  dis- 
tant from  this,  on  the  summit  of  the  hill,  stood  the  citadel 
united  with  the  town  by  two  long  walls  of  jx)lygonal  masonry, 
traces  of  which  are  still  to  be  seen,  though  they  do  not  rise 
to  any  height  above  the  ground.  The  site  of  the  citadel  is 
now  occupied  by  a  wretched  little  suburb  called  Borgo  di 
S.  Pietro,  and  by  a  ruined  mediaeval  castle  of  the  Colonnas 
built  in  the  style  called  opera  Saracenesca.  On  the  side 
towards  the  town  the  walls  of  the  citadel  are  still  easily 
traced,  and  present  admirable  examples  of  |X)lygonal  struc- 
ture, rising  in  some  places  to  a  considerable  height.  On  the 
other  side,  where  the  steepness  of  the  hill  made  artificial 
defences  less  necessary,  the  walls  have  almost  disappeared. 

The  original  fortifications  of  the  city  may  be  followed  from 
the  Porta  del  Sole,  where  the  ancient  polygonal  masonry  is 
visible.  "  In  this  part  of  the  walls,"  says  Nibby,  '*  are  some 
towers  of  opus  incertum,  standing  between  the  Porta  delle 
Monache  and  the  Porta  Portella.  Near  the  latter  gate  the 
polygonal  wall  is  nearly  fifteen  feet  in  height,  and  on  one  great 
block  mav  l)e  read  in  verv  ancient  letters  the  words  ped.  xxx. 
After  having  surrounded  the  summit  of  the  hill  of  S.  Pietro, 
the  wall  descends  to  the  Porta  S.  Martino,  where  it  was 
strengthened  at  the  time  of  the  Punic  wars  with  additions  of 
quadrilateral  structure,  and  where  an  ancient  gate  now  closed 
may  be  seen.  From  this  point  the  wall  proceeds  in  a  nearly 
straight  line  in  the  direction  of  the  upper  garden  of  the 
Barberini  Palace  and  the  Via  di  S.  Girolamo  towards  the 
Porta  del  Sole.  This  circuit  of  about  three  miles  in  length 
was  intersected  at  different  points  by  at  least  three  other 
lines  of  fortifications  above  the  Contrada  della  Cortina  and 
hence  }>erhaps  the  city  bore  the  name  of  '  many  crowns,'  given 
it  by  Strabo,  forming,  as  it  were,  four  sejmrate  inclosures, 
besides  the  various  terraces  of  the  great  temple,  which  could 
almost  be  regarded  as  so  many  divisions  of  the  town."  ^ 

The  original  foundation  of  the  Temple  of  Fortuna  Primi- 
genia  at  Praeneste  is  lost  in  obscurity ;  but  the  ancient  poly- 
gonal substructions  which  support  it  show  that  it  was  a  very 
large  temple  even  in  early  times. 

>  Nibby,  Anal.  ii.  496. 


Cicero  in  his  description  of  the  Praenestine  lots,  calls  it  a 
splendid  and  ancient  temple,  and  Valerius  Maximus  speaks  of 
it  as  the  most  celebrated  oracle  of  Latium  at  the  end  of  the 
first  Punic  war. 

The  ancient  town  extended  to  a  considerable  distance  be- 
yond the  precincts  of  the  temple.  Outside  the  Porta  S.  Fran- 
cesco of  the  modern  town,  at  about  the  distance  of  half  a 
mile,  are  two  huge  reservoirs,  similar  to  those  described  as 
placed  at  the  foot  of  the  Temple  of  Fortune;  and  in  the 
Contrada  degli  Arconi  is  the  cistern  of  an  aqueduct.  This, 
with  other  ruins  near  it,  belonged  to  that  part  of  the  town 
founded  by  Sylla,  which  extended  to  a  distance  of  a  mile  and 
a  half  from  the  lowest  terrace  of  the  great  temple. 

The  forum  of  the  city  lay  between  the  western  reservoir  of 
the  temple,  and  the  churches  of  S.  Lucia  and  S.  Madonna 
deir  Aquila.  This  is  inferred  from  numerous  inscriptions, 
and  some  commemorative  y^illars  and  altars  found  there.  The 
Praenestine  Registers  of  Verrius  Flaccus  were  found  in  the 
Contrada  delle  Quadrelle,  a  mile  and  a  half  from  this  spot. 
They  may,  however,  as  Nibby  suggests,  have  been  moved 
from  the  forum,  where  we  should  naturally  expect  to  find 
them. 


IV.  OsTiA  AND  Porto. 

Ostia. — Ostia  is  fifteen  miles  distant  from  the  Porta  di 
S.  Paolo  of  Rome.  The  site  of  the  old  town  is  plainly  discer- 
nible by  the  hillocks  of  rubbish  with  which  it  is  covered,  and 
the  ruined  brick  walls  which  protrude  here  and  there. 

On  approaching  from  the  modem  village,  which  is  half  a 
mile  nearer  Rome  than  the  ruins  of  the  old  town,  we  pass 
between  lines  of  tombs  on  each  side  of  the  road,  similar  to 
those  which  have  been  excavated  at  Pompeii.  The  tombs  are 
very  closely  packed  together,  and  of  different  sizes  and 
shapes.  On  the  left-hand  side,  two  sarcophagi  remain,  with 
the  names  of  Sex.  Carminius  Parthenopaeus  Eq.,  and  T. 
Flavius  Verus  Eq.,  and  a  terra-cotta  inscription  on  the  tomb 
of  Flavia  Caecilia,  priestess  of  Isis  at  Ostia.  ^ 

At  the  end  of  this  street  of  tombs,  the  gate  of  the  city  has 

*  Mon.  deir  Iiist.  VI.  tav.  xi.     Ann.  dell'  Inst,  1857,  p.  281. 


nW':'.-- 


■th". 


262 


ANCIKXT    ROME. 


THE  NEIGHBOURHOOD   OF   ROME. 


263 


been  laid  bare,  and  its  foundations  can  be  easily  traced  to- 
gether with  those  of  a  guard- house  on  the  left-hand  side, 
havinj^  a  rude  tabula  lusoria  marked  on  the  pavement,  where 
the  soldiers  whiled  away  their  time  at  some  game  resembling 
skittles. 

The  street  which  is  then  entered  passes  l)etween  the  ruins 
of  private  houses,  without  anything  more  remarkable  about 
them  than  a  few  common  mosaic  pavements  and  two  foun- 
tains. The  j)rincipal  j)ul»lic  buildings  which  have  been  exca- 
vated, are, 

I.  The  house  of  the  priests  of  Mithras,  in  which]  a  well- 
preserved  altar  still  stands  with  the  inscription  : 

C  CAKLIVS  .  HERMAKROS 

ANTISTES  .   HVIVS  .  LOCI 

FKCIT 

II.  The  Thermae,  consisting  of  a  large  court,  and  several 
smaller  side  rooms  for  vapour-baths,  with  mosaic  pavements 
of  various  designs.  These  baths  may  possibly  be  the  lavacrum 
Ostiense  of  Antoninus  Pius.  The  stamps  on  the  bricks  are 
said  to  he  of  the  Antonine  era. 

III.  A  large  rectangular  bri(;k  edifice  with  three  windows 
on  each  side.  In  the  mterior  are  the  remains  of  ornamental 
niches,  Corinthian  capitals,  and  a  marble  cornice.  The  walls 
have  rivets  upon  them,  by  which  it  appears  that  they  were 
covered  with  a  marble  casing,  and  the  magnificent  block  of 
African  marble  which  serves  as  the  threshold  shows  that  the 
building  was  of  a  costly  description.  Traces  have  been  found 
of  a  front  chamber  with  a  portico  of  grey  granite  columns. 
Whether  this  was  a  temple  or  not  is  uncertain,  but  it  has 
been  supposed  that  the  arrangements  in  the  interior  would 
agree  with  such  a  supposition.  The  masonry  may  be  assigned 
to  the  age  of  Trajan  or  Hadrian.  The  name  of  Vulcan  has 
been  usually  given  to  this  temple,  which  was  at  one  end  of 
the  ancient  forum.  Many  excavations  have  Ixjen  made  here 
within  the  last  ten  years,  and  some  valuable  works  of  art 
have  been  discovered,  and  numerous  stores  and  shops  of 
various  kinds  have  been  uncovered. 

IV.  The  ruins  of  a  theatre  supposed  by  Nibby  to  he  that 
mentioned  in  the  Acta  Marty  rum,  near  which  S.  Quiriacus 
and  S.  Maximus,  and  S.  Archelaus,  and  a  number  of  others 


were  martyred.  It  is  built  partly  of  yellow  and  red  brick- 
work, and  partly  of  opus  reticulatum,  and  apparently  belongs 
to  the  restorations  and  additions  made  by  Hadrian  to  the 
city. 

V.  The  ruins  of  an  extensive  building,  probably  an  em- 
porium, on  the  bank  of  the  river  near  Torre  Bovacciano.  In 
this  place  a  great  number  of  works  of  art  were  discovered  by 
Fagan  in  1797,  showing  the  magnificent  decorations  with 
which  the  building  was  ornamented ;  and  several  inscriptions 
with  the  names  of  Severus  and  Caracalla  found  here  are  given 
by  Nibby. ^ 

Grove  of  the  Arval  College.— Fiumicino  at  the  present 
mouth  of  the  Til)er,  and  Porto  which  stands  at  the  site  of  the 
ports  formed  by  Claudius  and  Trajan,  may  be  reached  from 
Rome  by  steamer  down  the  river,  or  by  carriage.  The  road 
which  leads  to  Fiumicino  and  Porto  leaves  the  city  walls  at 
the  Porta  Portese,  and  at  about  the  fifth  milestone  reaches 
the  celebrated  grove  of  the  Dea  Dia,  where  the  worship  of  the 
great  collegiate  priesthood  of  the  Fratres  Ar vales  was  carried 
on.  The  railway  to  Civita  Vecchia  crosses  the  road  at  this 
spot,  to  which  the  modern  names  of  the  Moute  delle  Piche 
and  the  Vigna  Ceccarelli  are  given.  Discoveries  of  inscriptions 
had  been  made  here  since  the  vear  1570,  but  no  formal  collec- 
tion  of  them  was  made  until  the  publication  of  Marini's  great 
work  in  1785.  No  effective  investigations  were,  however, 
carried  on  until  April,  1868.  The  remains  of  a  Christian 
cemetery  were  then  disinterred  on  the  slope  of  the  hill  above 
the  Vigna  Ceccarelli,  where  many  of  the  marble  tablets  upon 
which  the  Arval  Brothers  had  inscribed  their  records  were 
found  to  have  been  used  in  the  graves  in  lieu  of  coffins  and  as 
gravestones.  One  tomb  was  covered  with  a  slab  containing 
the  records  of  the  year  a.d.  155,  and  numerous  fragments  of 
inscriptions  were  found  scattered  in  all  directions. 

These  inscrij^tions  are  of  great  interest  both  arch  geologically, 
as  containing  authentic  particulars  about  the  worship  of  the 
Arval  Brothers,  and  the  places  at  Rome  or  elsewhere  in  which 
it  was  held,  and  also  historically,  since  many  of  them  give 
the  titles  of  eminent  persons,  or  fix  the  dates  of  consuls  and 
other   ministers  of  state,  and  enable  us  thereby  to   correct 

^  Nibby,  Anal.  ii.  468. 


264 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


and  compare  the  statements  of  Tacitus  and  Suetonius  with 
those  of  Dion  Cassius.  Many  points  of  mythology  are  also 
illustrated  by  the  mention  of  the  divinities  whom  the  college 
worshipped  in  their  ritual. 

Porto.— Beyond  the  site  of  the  Arval  Chapel,  the  road 
passes  by  the  relics  of  the  papal  palace  of  La  Magliana,  and 
then  along  a  causeway  six  miles  in  length  to  Porto.  The  site 
of  the  ancient  Portus  Trajani  on  the  right  branch  of  the  Tiber 
is  now  occupied  by  the  town  of  Porto,  mainly  consisting  of 
the  cathedral,  the  Villa  Pallavicini,  and  some  farm  buildings. 
The  sea  has  here  continuously  receded  for  many  centuries, 
and  the  river  deposits  of  sand  and  marl  have  extended. 
Fiumicino  at  the  i)resent  mouth  of  the  river  is  two  miles 
distant  from  Porto,  and  its  site  was  entirely  covered  by  the 
sea  at  the  time  when  Claudius,  and  Trajan  after  him,' con- 
structed their  new  ports.  The  large  marsh  v  tract  to  the 
north  of  Porto  marks  the  site  of  the  port  of  Claudius.  The 
hexagonal  basin  of  Trajan  lies  between  this  marsh  and  the 
town  of  Porto. 

It  is  not  at  all  clear  when  the  right  arm  of  the  Tiber,  or 
rather  the  canal  which  now  serves  for  communication  between 
the  sea  and  the  Tiber  proper,  assumed  its  present  shape. 
Inundations  and  occasional  repairs  and  alterations  have 
changed  its  course,  and  the  constant  retreat  of  the  sea  must 
have  lenthened  it  considerably. 

Ruins  at  Torre  Paterno.— Passing  from  Ostia  along 
the  sea  coast  through  the  woods  of  Castel  Fusano  to  Torre 
Paterno,  we  find  the  ruins  of  a  large  villa,  which  have  been 
supposed  by  some  to  belong  to  Pliny's  Laurentinum.  But 
they  are  more  probably  the  relics  of  *^an  imperial  villa  men- 
tioned by  Herodian  as  the  retreat  to  which  Commodus  with- 
drew, by  the  advice  of  his  physicians,  at  the  time  of  the  great 
plague  in  Rome,  in  the  year  187  a.d.  The  neighbourhood  of 
Laurentum  was  recommended,  says  the  historian,  on  account 
of  its  being  cooler  than  Rome,  and  also  because  it  was  shaded 
with  large  woods  of  laurel  and  bay  trees,  the  strong  scent 
from  which  was  supposed  to  counteract  the  influence  of  the 
deadly  malaria  which  was  devastating  the  capital.'  The  pre- 
sent ruins  at  Torre  Paterno  consist  of  brick  walls  in  two 

'  Herodian,  i.  12,  2. 


THE  NEIGHBOURHOOD  OF  ROME. 


265 


styles,  one  of  which  Nibby  refers  to  the  age  of  Nero,  and  the 
other  to  the  reign  of  Commodus  or  Severus.     The  central 
building,  which  contained  the  grand  suite  of  rooms,  is  the 
only  part  where  work  of  the  first  century,  analogous  to  that 
of  Nero's  buildings  at  Rome,  is  to  be  seen ;  the  rest,  says 
Nibby,  IS  composed  of  various  courtyards  in  the  style  of  the 
Antonine  era,  which  have  been  altered  and  partly  concealed 
by  later  modern  edifices.     On  one  side  of  the  ruins  are  two 
large  cisterns,  supplied  by  an  aqueduct  which  comes  from  the 
Tenimento  la  Santola.     The  brickwork  of  this  is  apparently 
contemporaneous  with  other  works  which  we  know  to  have 
belonged  to  the  age  of  Commodus  or  Severus  as  having  very 
thin  bricks  and  a  great  quantity  of  mortar.    Near  these  reser- 
voirs is  an  inclosed  space  which  was  probably  a  courtyard  or 
garden  of  a  rectangular  shape.    On  the  north  side  it  has  some 
rums  in  the  mode  of  construction  called  opus  mixtum  of  the 
fourth  century  ;  and  on  the  east  is  the  principal  part  of  the 
villa  built  of   large  and  thick  triangular  bricks,  with  thin 
layers  of  mortar  beautifully  laid,  and  evidently  of  an  early 
date.    On  the  west  there  is  a  large  dining  hall  looking  towards 
the  sea,  like  that  described  in  Pliny's  Laurentinum. '   Various 
other  rooms  and  the  foundations  of  a  tower  can  be  traced  on 
the  sites  occupied  by  the  modern  guardhouse  and  the  Chapel 
of  S.  Filippo.' 

V.   TlBTIR. 

The  Via  Valeria  or  Tiburtina  leading  to  Tivoli,  the  ancient 
Tibur,  now  leaves  Rome  at  the  Porta  S.  Lorenzo.  Traces  of 
the  polygonal  pavement  of  the  old  road  can  be  seen  at  intervals 
along  the  modern  road  to  Tivoli,  especially  between  the  eighth 
and  ninth  milestones,  and  here  and  there  elsewhere.  In  the 
Basilica  of  S.  Lorenzo,  a  mile  from  the  gate,  are  many  ancient 
fragments  of  architecture.  The  Ponte  Mammolo,  by  which 
the  Anio  is  crossed  at  three  and  a  half  miles  from  Rome,  is 
modern  and  there  are  scarcely  any  relics  of  the  old  bridge. 
Here  and  there  on  the  road  are  the  naked  cores  of  tombs,  but 
nothing  of  any  interest  offers  itself  to  an  archaeologist  until 
the  Aquae  Albulae  are   reached.     Some   few  remains  of  an 

*  Nibby,  Anal.  ii.  p.  205. 


266 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


I 


ancient  building,  which  may  have  belonged  to  the  Thermse 
here,  have  been  discovered.  They  are  now  built  into  the  walls 
of  a  modem  farmhouse.  These  ruins  may  have  belonged  to 
the  Thermae  of  Agrippa,  which  Augustus  frequented. 

The  ancient  quarries  of  travertine  mentioned  by  Strabo, 
whence  the  stone  of  the  Coliseum  came,  lie  on  the  right  of  the 
road  beyond  the  Solfatara,  and  the  modem  quarries  on  the 
left.  The  road  then  crosses  the  Anio  over  an  ancient  bridge 
still  called  the  Ponte  Lucano,  from  Marcus  Plautius  Lucanus, 
a  Tiburtine  magistrate,  whose  memory  is  preserved  in  an  in- 
scription discovered  upon  the  ancient  fourteenth  milestone  on 
this  road. 

The  l)ridge  was  originally  composed  of  three  travertine 
arches,  of  which  the  one  next  to  the  left  bank  remains  entire. 
The  central  arch  has  been  restored  with  masonry  of  the  sixth 
century,  similar  to  that  in  the  Ponte  Nomentano  and  the 
Ponte  Salario.  The  arch  on  the  right  bank  was  restored  in 
the  fifteenth  century,  and  the  whole  bridge  was  repaired 
again  about  1836.  This  bridge  was  broken  down  by  Totila 
when  he  was  encamped  at  Tibur,  and  Nibby  thinks  that  he 
destroyed  the  middle  arch,  which  was  then  restored  by 
Narses. 

Tomb  of  the  Plautian  Family.— Just  on  the  other  side 
of  the  bridge  is  the  tomb  of  the  gens  Plautia,  well  known 
from  numerous  paintings  and  photographs.  It  is  very  similar 
to  that  of  Csecilia  Metella  on  the  Appian  Road,  and  to  the 
Mausoleum  of  Hadrian,  in  its  main  features.  A  cylindrical 
tower  of  travertine,  based  on  a  square  foundation,  and  capped 
with  a  cone,  was  the  original  design,  but  a  mediaeval  tower 
built  upon  the  top  now  disfigures  it. 

Two  inscriptions  placed  in  a  projecting  front  with  Ionic 
pilasters  record  the  names  of  M.  Plautius  Silvanus,  consul 
with  Augustus  in  the  year  b.c.  2,  and  his  son  Ti.  Plautius 
Silvanus,  prefect  of  the  city  in  a.d.  73.  A  third  inscription, 
which  is  now  destroyed,  commemorated  a  P.  Plautius  Pulcher. 
The  longer  inscription  is  given  with  notes  in  Wilmann's 
Inscr.  Lat.  No.  1145.  The  person  whose  memory  it  preserves 
was  the  pontifex  who  officiated  at  the  rebuilding  of  the 
Capitoline  Temple  in  a.d.  70,  as  recorded  by  Tacitus. 

Hadrian's  Villa.— Beyond  the  Ponte  Lucano  to  the 
right  are  the  ruins  of  Hadrian's  great  Tiburtine  Villa.     They 


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268 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


THE  NEIGHBOURHOOD  OF   ROME. 


269 


occupy  the  slopes  of  a  hill  of  volcanic  tufa,  which  may  be 
called  an  outlying  part  of  Monte  Affliano,  extending  for 
about  three  miles  in  a  direction  from  south-east  to  north- 
west. The  various  levels  afforded  by  the  ground  have  been 
formed  into  terraces  adapted  to  the  buildings  they  were  in- 
tended to  support  by  means  of  substructions,  which  in  some 
places  are  of  vast  solidity  and  gigantic  height.  **  From  these 
terraces."  says  Nibby,  "  the  views  are  most  varied  and  pic- 
turesque. On  one  side  the  horizon  is  bounded  by  the  pointed 
heights  of  the  Montes  Corniculani,  and  by  the  ridges  of  the 
Peschiatore,  the  Ripoli,  and  the  Affliano,*  and  on  the  other, 
the  eye  ranges  over  the  gently  undulating  expanse  of  the 
Ager  Romanus,  from  which  rise  the  towers  of  the  Eternal 
City ;  while  beyond,  the  long  streak  of  light  reflected  from 
the  waters  of  the  Etruscan  and  Laurentine  Sea  seems  to 
encircle  the  whole  with  a  silvery  zone.  The  situation  of  the 
villa  is  open  to  the  healthy  breezes  of  the  west  wind,  but  is 
sheltered  by  the  mountains  from  the  fury  of  the  north  wind, 
the  piercing  chills  of  the  north-east,  and  the  unwholesome 
hot  summer  blasts  of  the  south." 

The  high  ground  on  which  the  villa  stands  rises  between 
two  valleys,  which  may  be  called  from  their  position  the 
north  and  south  valleys.  They  run  down  into  the  plain 
through  which  the  Anio  cuts  its  bed.  The  northern  valley 
has  been  artificially  altered,  with  the  view  of  increasing  its 
picturesque  appearance,  by  cutting  the  sides  so  as  to  form 
perpendicular  cliffs  of  reddish  stone.  The  tints  of  these 
rocks,  the  soft  verdure  of  the  plants  and  trees  which  grow 
luxuriantly  upon  them,  the  bright  colours  of  the  wild  flowers 
scattered  here  and  there,  and  the  lovely  hills  which  rise  as 
a  screen  behind  them,  give  this  valley  such  a  character 
of  soothing  and  enchanting  retirement  and  beauty,  that 
it  has  been  universally  regarded  as  the  spot  to  which  the 
name  of  the  Vale  of  Tempe  was  given  by  the  emperor.  The 
southern  valley  is  less  deep  and  bold,  and  from  its  mono- 
tonous and  severe  aspect  it  may  perhaps  have  been  the 
spot  where  Hadrian  placed  his  imitation  of  the  infernal 
regions.' 

The  brook  which  runs  at  the  bottom  of  the  northern  valley 

'  Hist.  Aug.  Hadrian,  26.     Aur.  Vict.  Epit.  xiv.     Tertull.  Apol.  5. 


(Fosso  deir  Acqua  Ferrata)  has  received  the  name  of  the 
Peneius  from  antiquaries,  and  that  in  the  southern  valley  is 
called  Fosso  di  Risicoli  by  the  modern  inhabitants.     These 
streams  are  now  very  scantily  supplied  with  water,  but  in 
ancient  times,  when  the  villa  was  watered  by  a  constant  flow 
from  its  aqueducts,  they  must   have  been  of  considerable 
volume.     The  ruins,  now  overgrown  with  clumps  of  cypress 
and  other  trees,  extend  for  a  space  of  seven  miles  in  cir- 
cumference, and  in  the  middle  ages  were  known  as  Tivoli 
Vecchio,  from  a  vague  and  unfounded  idea  that  the  ancient 
city  of  Tibur  stood  here.      It  has  been  remarked  that  the 
Coliseum  is  strikingly  characteristic  of  the  Flavian  emperors 
who  planned  and  executed  it,  and  with  equal  truth  it  may 
be  said  that  the  Tiburtinum  of  Hadrian  gives  a  marvellous 
picture  of  the  many-sided  genius  of  the  great  man  who  v/as 
at  once  the  ruler  of  the  whole  known  world  and  had  travelled 
throughout  his  vast  domains  from  Britain  to  the  Euphrates, 
organizing  and  controlling  everywhere,  and  at  the  same  time 
showing  an  appreciation  of  and  value  for  literature,  philo- 
sophy, and  the  fine  arts,  which  was  generally  foreign  to  the 
Roman  character.     Hadrian  constructed  in  his  villa  at  Tibur 
a  panorama  of  all  the  sights  which  had  struck  him  most  in 
his  world-wide  travels,  in  order  that  he  might  in  this  realm 
of  enchantment,  when  no   longer   able  to  travel,  have  the 
sights  and  thoughts  in  which  he  had  taken  such  pleasure, 
revived  for  his  imagination  to  feed  upon.     Considering  the 
size  and  magnificence  of  the  place,  which  almost  resembles  a 
town  in  its  vast  extent,  it  is  surprising  that  so  few  notices 
of  it  should  be  found  among  the  Roman  historians  and  bio- 
graphers.    Dion  Cassius,  or  rather  his  epitomizer  Xiphilinus, 
does  not  even  mention  it,  and  Spartianus  and  Aurelius  Victor 
pass  it  over  without  such  special  remark  as  we  should  expect. 
As,  however,  a  great  part  of  the  building  consisted  of  the 
familiar  Thermae,  stadia,  theatres  and  gymnasium,  which  were 
constructed  in  every  large  Roman  villa,  they  were  perhaps  not 
noticed,  as  matters  of  course,  and  only  the  peculiarities  of  the 
villa  were  recorded.     After  Hadrian's  return  to  Rome  at  the 
end  of  his  last  journey  to  the  East  in  a.d.  135,  he  resigned 
the  care  of  the  empire  to  Lucius  ^lius  Verus  and  retired  to 
this  villa,  which  had  probably  been  built  during  his  absence, 
and  may  have  been  begun  in  a.d.  125  when  he  returned  to  Rome 


270 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


from  his  first  journey,  and  finished  during  the  last  three  years 
of  his  life,  from  135  to  138. 

This  opinion  as  to  the  date  at  which  the  villa  was  built  is 
confirmed  by  the  stamps  found  on  the  bricks,  which  range 
from  the  year  123  to  the  year  137,  and  that  the  ruins 
belong  to  Hadrian's  villa  is  sufficiently  attested  by  universal 
tradition,  and  by  the  number  of  statues  of  Antinous,  and 
other  works  of  art  found  here  unquestionablv  belonging  to 
the  reign  of  Hadrian. 

Tibur.— Ascending   from   Hadrian's   Villa   to   the   point 
where  the  Anio  issues  from  a  valley  dividing  the  JEquism 
from  the  Sabine  Mountains,  we  find  the  river  winding  round 
a  considerable  hill,  partly  clothed  with  groves  of  olive,  and 
rising  to  the  height  of  830  feet.     At  the  back  of  this  hill  the 
river  has  forced  a  passage  for  itself  through  the  limestone 
rocks  which  threaten  to  impede  its  exit  from  the  upper  valley, 
and  falls  in  a  tremendous  cataract  down  a  precipitous  cliff  of 
320  feet  in  height  to  the  lower  level.     The  water  is  strongly 
charged  with  carbonate  of  lime,   which  is  constantly  being 
deposited  in  the  shape  of  masses  of  travertine  in  the  channels 
through  which  the  stream  runs,  especially  where  the  water, 
in  consequence  of  the  violent  agitation  caused  by  its  rapid 
descent,  parts  quickly  with  the  carbonic  acid  gas  contained  in 
it.     The  course  of  the  stream  is  from  time  to  time  blocked  up 
by  its  own  formations  of  stone,  and  it  is  forced  to  open  new 
passages  for  itself.     From  this  cause  the  city  of  Tibur,  which 
stands  on  the  hill,  close  to  the  point  where  the  river  falls  to 
its  lower  level,  has  always  been  subject  to  violent  and  dan- 
gerous inundations.     The  great  inundation  of  1826  proved  so 
formidable  that  it  was  at  once  resolved  to  divert  the  course 
of  part  of  the  river  and  provide  it  with  an  artificial  outlet. 
This  was  effected  by  boring   two   tunnels   through    Monte 
Catillo  on  the  east  of  the  city,  through  which  any  rush  of 
water  can  be  allowed  to  pass  and  fall  harmlessly  into  the 
lower  valley.     A  part  of  the  river  water  is  always  allowed 
to  pass  through  these  tunnels,  and  forms  at  their  lower  end 
a  magnificent  cascade.    Another  part  passes  under  the  bridge 
called  Ponte  S.  Gregorio  and  then  rushes  through  a  fantastic 
grotto  of  travertine  blocks  called  by  the  local  guides  Grotta 
di  Nettuno,  and  joins  the  stream  from  the  tunnels  at  the 
bottom  of  the  valley.    A  third  portion  of  the  Anio  is  diverted 


ANX'IENT   ROME. 

just  above  the  bridge  into  canals  apparently  of  very  ancient 
date,  which,  passing  completely  through  the  centre  of  the 
town,  are  used  as  the  motive-power  of  water-mills  and  fac- 
tories of  various  kinds,  and  then  fall  again  into  the  main 
stream  at  various  points  of  the  romantic  cliffs  on  the  western 
hill  side.  These  form  the  wreaths  of  "  snow  white  foam  "  so 
celebrated  as  the  cascades  of  the  Anio,  and  explain  perfectly 
the  expression  of  Horace : 

O  headlonj;  Anio,  O  Tilmrnian  «,'roves, 
And  orchards  saturate  with  shifting  streams. 

But  few  traces  of  the  ancient  walls  of  the  city  are  left. 
Nibby  is,  however,  doubtless  right  in  saying  that  there  can  be 
no  question  about  their  course  along  the  northern  and  eastern 
sides  of  the  city,  where  the  brow  of  the  hill  is  steep  and 
perfectly  adapted  for  defence  by  a  wall  placed  on  the  edge 
of  the  rocky  valley  of  the  Anio.  The  citadel  was  probably 
situated  in  the  quarter  called  Castro  Vetere— where  the  two 
temples  commonly  called  the  temples  of  the  Sibyl  and  of 
Drusilla  stand,  for  it  is  plain  that  some  pains  have  been 
taken  to  isolate  this  from  the  remainder  of  the  site.  On  the 
western  side  the  limit  of  the  ancient  walls  is  marked  by  the 
old  gate,  and  by  the  fragments  of  walls  which  still  exist  at 
the  point  where  the  direct  road  from  Rome  enters  the  city 
by  the  modem  Porta  del  Colle.  The  course  of  the  walls 
then  excludes  the  Villa  d'Este,  and  runs  across  the  hill  to 
the  Church  of  the  Annunziata  and  the  Porta  Santa  Croce 
and  the  citadel  built  by  Pius  II.  on  the  site  of  the  ancient 
amphitheatre.  From  thence  the  walls  passed  in  a  straight 
line  down  to  the  river  near  the  Church  of  S.  Bartolommeo. 
The  ancient  town  did  not  extend  to  the  right  bank  of  the 
Anio. 

Temple  of  Vesta.— Two  ancient  temples  are  still  stand- 
ing in  tolerable  preservation  at  Tibur.  The  first  of  these  is 
a  small  round  temple  perched  on  the  very  edge  of  the  pre- 
cipitous ravine  through  which  the  Anio  dashes.  It  has  been 
protected  against  the  violence  of  the  furious  torrent  bv 
massive  substructions,  which  apparently  existed  in  ancient 
times  and  have' often  been  renewed.  Ten  of  the  eighteen 
ccrlumns  which  formerly  surrounded  the  inner  chamber  still 
remain. 


Temple  of  Vesta  at  Tibur. 


274 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


The  details  of  this  temple  are  rather  peculiar  in  style,  and 
show  an  originality  of  invention  very  rare  in  Roman  architec- 
ture. The  columns  have  Attic  bases,  but  the  grooves  of  the 
fluting  are  cut  m  a  style  which  is  neither  Doric  nor  Ionic 
Ihey  terminate  above  in  an  abrupt  horizontal  line,  and  reach 
at  the  foot  of  the  column  quite  down  to  the  base  without  any 
intermediate  cylinder  The  capitals  exhibit  a  fantastic  variety 
of  the  Corinthian  order,  having  the  second  row  of  acanthus 
leaves  nearly  hidden  behind  the  first,  and  a  lotus  blossom 
as  the  decoration  of  the  abacus.  The  frieze  is  ornamented 
with  the  skulls  of  oxen  and  festoons,  in  the  loops  of  which 
are  rosettes  and  paterae  placed  alternately.  The  inner  cham- 
ber  which  IS  built  of  opus  incertum,  is  partly  destroyed,  but 
the  lower  half  of  the  door  and  a  window  still  remain 

From  the  above  description  it  will  be  seen  that  the  archi- 
tecture of  the  temple  appears  to  belong  to  the  end  of  the 
Republican  era,  but  the  inscription  on  the  architecture  gives 
us  no  fur  her  hint  of  the  exact  date,  as  the  whole  of  it,  with 
tlie  exception  of  the  words  l.  cellio.  l.  f.,  has  disappeared. 
The  most  probable  conjecture  as  to  the  deity  to  whom  it  was 
dedicated  is  that  based  upon  the  fact  that  Vesta  was  wor- 
shipped  at  Tibur,  as  is  shown  not  only  by  two  inscriptions 
found  near  the  spot,  but  also  by  the  fact  that  in  the  tenth 
century  this  quarter  of  the  town  bore  the  name  of  Vesta.^ 
Ihe  form  of  the  temple  also  confirms  such  an  opinion. 

Temple  of  Albunea.-The  second  temple  stands  quite 
close  to  this  round  buildmg,  and  is  now  consecrated  as  the 
Church  of  S.  Giorgio.  Its  shape  was  that  of  a  pseudo- 
peripteral  temple,  i.e.,  with  the  side  columns  half  sunk  in  the 
walls  raised  on  a  meagre  base  of  tufa  blocks.  It  had  a  front 
with  four  Ionic  columns,  one  of  which  still  remains,  forming 
a  support  to  the  Campanile  An  inscription  dedicated  to 
Drusilla,  the  sister  of  Caligula,  was  found  here,  but  no  refe- 
rence  as  to  the  name  of  the  temple  can  be  drawn  from  it.  A 
bas-relief,  also  found  on  the  spot,  represents  the  Tiburtine 
Sibyl  sitting  and  in  the  act  of  delivering  an  oracle.  Hence 
it  has  been  thought  that  we  have  in  the  Church  of  S.  Giorgio 
the  Temple  of  the  Sibyl  Albunea  mentioned  by  Horace! 
Tibullus,  and  Lactantius,  and  this  seems  to  be  the  most  pro- 


THE  NEIGHBOURHOOD  OF   ROME. 


275 


\  (( 


Rome  and  the  Canipagna,"  pp.  397-399. 


bable  of  the  various  conjectures  which  have  been  hazarded  on 
the  subject.  Tiie  Grove  of  Tiburnus  mentioned  by  Horace 
was  probably  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Anio,  but  further  than 
this  it  IS  impossible  to  determine  its  exact  position.  There 
was  also  a  grove  dedicated  to  Diana.  The  Mons  Catillus,  now 
Monte  Catillo  or  Monte  della  Croce,  is  the  height  on  the  right 
bank  of  the  Anio.  The  name  is  at  least  as  early  as  the  time 
of  Servius. 

Villas.— As  may  easily  be  imagined  there  are  numerous 
remains  of  ancient  villas  scattered  about  the  immediate 
neighbourhood  of  Tibur,  and  the  local  guides,  in  order  to 
please  travellers,  but  without  the  slightest  evidence  in  sup- 
port of  their  assertions,  have  dubbed  them  the  Villas  of 
Catullus,  Horace,  Ventidius,  Quintilius  Varus,  Maecenas, 
Sallust,  Piso,  Capito,  Brutus,  Popillius,  and  other  celebrated 
Romans. 

The  most  remarkable  ruins  are  those  to  which  the  name  of 
Maecenas  has  been  attached.  The  greater  part  of  these  have 
been  now  unfortunately  concealed  by  new  buildings  and  by 
an  iron  manufactory,  but  a  fine  terrace  and  parts  of  the 
porticoes  still  remain  on  the  lofty  bank  of  the  Anio.  The 
rest  is  a  mere  confused  mass  of  vaulted  chambers  and  arch- 
ways. The  Via  Tecta,  or  Porta  Oscura,  as  it  is  sometimes 
called,  by  which  the  road  passes  underneath  these  ruins,  was 
built,  as  we  learn  from  an  inscription  now  in  the  Vatican 
collection,  by  O.  Vitulus  and  Rustius  Flavos.  The  materials 
and  style  show  that  it  can  hardly  be  of  a  later  date  than  the 
first  century  a.d. 

Tempio*^  della  Tosse.— The  Tempio  della  Tosse  which 
probably  obtains  its  name  from  a  vulgar  interpretation  of  the 
name  of  the  gens  Tossia,  is  a  ruin  standing  in  a  vineyard  at 
the  side  of  the  old  road,  called  the  Via  Constantina,  below  the 
Villa  d'  Este.  It  has  none  of  the  characteristic  marks  of  an 
ancient  temple,  and  the  large  number  of  windows  it  contains 
forbid  us  to  suppose  it  to  be  a  tomb.  The  interior  of  the 
building  is  round,  the  exterior  octagonal.  It  is  built  of  layers 
of  small  fragments  of  tufa  intermixed  with  courses  of  bricks, 
materials  which  point  to  the  fourth  century  as  the  earliest 
possible  date  of  its  erection.  On  the  walls  are  the  remains  of 
frescoes  of  the  Saviour  and  the  Virgin,  dating  probably  from 
the  thirteenth  century.     These  show  that,  if  it  was  not  origi- 


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m. 


276 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


nally  a  Christian  Church,  it  was  used  as  oue  at  the  time  the 
frescoes  were  j)ainted. 

Villa  of  Cassius.— The  ruins  of  a  considerable  villa  lie 

near  the  Porta  S.  Croce  of  Tivoli,  in  the  estate  called  Carciano, 

from  the  mediaeval  name  of  the  Fundus  Cassianus,  which  is 

stated  in  a  list  of  the  estates  l)elon^ing  to  the  cathedral  at  Tivoli 

to  have  Leen  the  site  of  a  villa  of  Caius  Cassius.   Part  of  these 

ruins  consist  of  a  verj-  ancient  structure  of  polygonal  work,  but 

the  rest  is  pronounced  by  Nibby  to  belong  to  the  time  of  the 

later  republic.     The  casino  of  the  Collegio  Greco  is  now  built 

on  the  spot,  but  the  plan  of  th6  ancient  villa  can  l)e  so  far 

traced  as  to  show  that  it  had  several  terraces,  and  looked 

towards  the  south-west.     In  the  sixteenth  century  there  were 

still  eighteen  large  apartments  existing,  surrounded  with  a 

portico  of  Doric  columns,  and  also  some  temples,  a  theatre, 

some  fountains,  and  lish  ponds.     The  opus  reticulatum   of 

these   ruins    is   peculiar   for   the   alternate   arrangement   of 

coloured  tufa  in  its  lozenges.     An  immense  number  of  works 

of  art  were  dug  up  here,  and  the  nearly  complete  destruction 

of  what  still  remained  of  the  villa  in  the  sixteenth  century,  is 

probably  due  to  the  fact  of  its  having  been  found  to  be  so  rich 

a  mine  of  sculpture. 

Sabine  Farm  of  Horace.— The  Sabine  Farm  of  Horace 
can  hardly  be  passed  over  here,  though  it   is  not  strictly 
included  within  the  district  of  Tibur.    There  is  no  evidence  to 
show  that  Horace  ever  had  any  villa  at  Tibur  in  addition  to 
his  Sabine  farm  ;  indeed  his  own  words  seem  expressly  to 
imj^ly  the  contrary.      The  estate  he  had  was  plainly  usually 
called  a  Sabinum,  not  a  Tiburtinum,  and  must  therefore  be 
looked  for  at  some  distance  from  Tibur.     Horace  mentions 
two  places  in  its  neighbourhood,  Varia,  and  Mandela,  the  sites 
of  which  can  be  exactly  determined.    The  ancient  list  of  towns 
places  Varia  on  the  Via  Valeria,  eight  miles  beyond  Tibur, 
and  precisely  at  this  distance  are  the  remains  of  an  ancient 
town  now  covered  by  the  modem  village  of  Vico  Varo.     But 
the  position  of  Mandela  is  more  important  for  ascertaining 
the  site  of  Horace's  farm,  because  if  we  can  fix  upon  it,  we 
then  can  discover  to  which  of  the  mountain  streams  which 
flow  into  the  Auio  the  name  Digentia  belonged.     An  inscrip- 
tion dug  up  in  1757  near  the  Church  of  S.  Cosimato,  on  the 
Via  Valeria,  two  miles  from  the  village  of  Bardella,  shows 


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278 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


THE   NEIGHBOURHOOD  OF   ROME. 


279 


that  an  estate  in  the  modern  district  formed  bj  the  union  of 
Cantalupo  and  Bardella  was  called  in  the  later  imperial  times, 
or  the  early  Middle  Ai^'es,  Massa  Mandelana. 

From  this  it  is  plain  that  the  Di^^entia  was  the  torrent 
4alled  Mariscella,  which  joins  the  Anio  l)etween  Cantalupo, 
Bardella  and  Vico  Varo,  descending'  from  near  Licenza,  a 
small  villaj^fe  ahout  six  miles   from  Vico  Varo.      As  to  the 
exact  sjmt  where  the  farm  of  Horace  itself  stood  in  the  valley 
of  the  Dif^entia,  we  cannot  be  quite  certain.     The  ruins  usually 
pointed  out  are  on  a  little  knoll  opposite  to  the  village  of 
Licenza,  and  on  the  other  side  of  the  stream.      These  are 
possibly  situated  on  the  spot  on  which  the  farmhouse  stood,  if 
they  do  not  date  so  far  back  as  the  lifetime  of  the  poet  himself. 
Dennis  in  Milman's  Horace  says,  **  The  ruins  consist  only  of 
a  mosaic  pavement,  and  of  two  capitals  and  two  fragments 
of  Doric  columns  lying  among  the  bushes.     The  pavement 
has  been  much  rumed  by  the  planting  of  a  vineyard,  and  can 
only  be  seen  on  removing  the  earth  which  covers  it.     The 
groundwork  is   white   with   a   border  of  animals  in  black. 
These  were  the  sole  traces  now  visible  (1842),  but  some  fifty 
years  ago,  the  mosaic  floors  of  six  chambers  were  brought  to 
light,  but   were   covered   again  with  earth,  as  nothing  was 
found  to  tempt  any  further  excavation.    The  farm  is  situated 
on  a  rising  ground  which  sinks  with  a  gentle  slope  to  the 
stream,  leaving  a  level  intervening  strip  now  yellow  with  the 
harvest.     In  this  I  recognized  the  sunny  meadow  which,  as 
the  poet  says,  was  in  danger  of  being  inundated.     The  sunny 
fields  were  probably  then,  as  now,  sown  with  com.     Here  it 
must  have  been  that  the  poet  was  wont  to  repose  on  the  grass 
after  his  meal,  and  here  his  personal  efforts  perhaps  to  dam 
out  the  stream  provoked  his  neighbours'  smiles."     The  place 
is  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  hills,  except  where  the  main 
valley  of  the  Digentia  separates  them,  nmning  nearly  due 
north  and  south,  so  that  facing  down  the  valley,  the  sun 
before  midday  rests  on  the  right-hand  slopes,  and  in  the 
afternoon  on  the  left  hand,  thus  corresponding  exactly  to  the 
poet's  description  of  the  site. ' 

The  other  spots  mentioned  by  Horace  as  near  his  farm,  are 

^  Dennis  in  Mihiian's  Horace,  p.  101  ;  pratum  apricum,  Ep.  i.  14 
.30;  aprica  rura,  Od.  iii.  18,  2.  See  also  Od.  iii.  16,  30;  Ep.  i.  14, 
35,  39.     "  Rome  and  the  Canipagna,"  p.  430. 


the  Chapel  of  Vacuna,  the  sloi^es  of  Ustica,  and  the  mountain 
of  Lucretihs.  The  first  of  these  has  been  placed  bv  the  Italian 
topographers  at  Rocca  Giovane,  a  village  perched  on  a  hill  on 
the  west  side  of  the  valley  about  two  iuiles  above  Cantalupo 
Bardella.  The  evidence  for  this  identification  is,  however,  verv 
doubtful.  "^ 

The  Ustica  Cubans  of  the  poet  is  commonly  with  some 
probability  supposed  to  be  La  Rustica,  which  lies  on  the  hill 
close  to  Licenza  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  valley.  Lucretilis 
IS  probably  a  name  applied  to  the  whole  range  of  hills  con- 
nected with  Monte  Gennaro.  Cav.  Rosa,  however,  places  it  at 
Monte  del  Corynaleto  just  above  Rocca  Giovane.  The  name 
of  Fons  Bandusiae  has  been  given  to  most  of  the  springs 
in  this  valley  by  the  enthusiastic  admirers  of  Horace,  but 
it  IS  quite  uncertain  whether  the  Fons  Bandusiae  was  not  in 
Apulia. 

VI.  The  North-Western  District. 

The  principal  roads  which  traversed  the  Campagna  to  the 
north  and  north-west  of  Rome  are  the  Nomentana,  the  Salaria 
and  the  Flaminia.  These  roads  offer  but  little,  within  the 
bounds  of  ancient  Latium,  which  calls  for  remark. 

The  Via  Nomentana  diverged  from  the  Via  Salaria  at 
the  Collina  gate  in  the  Servian  walls,  and  passed  through 
Aurelian's  wall  at  a  gate  which  now  stands  a  little  to  the 
south  of  the  modern  Porte  Pia.  The  present  road  follows  the 
Ime  of  the  ancient  Via  Nomentana,  as  may  be  seen  by  the 
ruins  of  tombs  which  fringe  it  beyond  S.  Agnese.  '  The 
Chapel  of  S.  Constanza,  opposite  S.  Agnese,  is  an  interesting 
building  of  the  Constantinian  epoch,  and  the  mosaics  it 
contains,  including  a  mixture  of  Christian  and  pagan 
emblems,  are  very  remarkable.  The  Mons  Sacer  stands  just 
beyond  the  bridge  over  the  Anio,  and  the  Villa  of  Phaon, 
where  Nero  ended  his  life,  was  at  the  Vigne  Nuove,  on  a  side 
road  which  branches  off  to  the  right,  just  beyond  the  Ponte 
Nomentano. 

The  Via  Salaria  is  said  to  have  been  so  named  from  the  sup- 
plies of  salt  conveyed  along  it  to  the  Sabine  district  at  the  time 
when  the  Romans  and  Sabines  were  confederates.  It  is  first 
mentioned  in  history  as  the  scene  of  the  single  combat  between 


THE   NEIGHBOURHOOD  OF   ROME. 


281 


X 


Manhus  and  the  gigantic  Gaul.  The  ancient  road  passed  out 
at  the  CoUma  gate  and  followed  very  nearly  the  same  line  as 
the  present  road  along  the  left  bank  of  the  Tiber,  as  may  be 
seen  by  the  ruins  near  Serpentara,  and  by  the  position  of  the 
ancient  bridge,  the  Ponte  Salaro,  which  carries  it  over  the  Anio 
close  to  Antemnge.  Beyond  this,  Fidense  and  the  Allia  are  the 
most  remarkable  points  of  interest  upon  the  road  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Eome.  Beyond  Malpasso,  the  ancient  road, 
according  to  Nibby,  diverges  to  the  right,  crossing  the  railwav 
to  Ancona. 

The  Via  Flaminia,  after  passing  through  the  Porta  Eatu- 
mena  at  the  Tomb  of  Bibulus,  left  Aurehan's  fortifications 
at  the  Porta  Flammia,  which  stood  a  little  nearer  the  slope  of 
Monte  Pincio  than  the  present  Porta  del  Popolo.  It  ran  to 
the  right  of  the  present  street,  and  then  crossed  the  Tiber  at  the 
well-known  Milvian  bridge  (Ponte  Molle),  and  then  diverged 
to  the  right  along  the  Tiber  valley,  while  the  Via  Cassia  ascended 
to  the  left  among  the  Etruscan  hills  towards  Veii,  which  lay  to 
the  right  at  the  twelfth  milestone.  The  old  Flaminian  Koad 
lay  closer  to  the  river  than  the  modern,  which  is  carried  through 
a  cutting  in  the  hills  and  rejoins  it  at  Tor  di  Quinto.  There 
are  a  few  rock  tombs  on  the  left  hand,  between  the  fifth  and 
sixth  milestones.  One  of  them  has  been  connected  with 
the  poet  Ovid  by  a  mistaken  inference  drawn  from  the  in- 
scription found  upon  it  which  bears  the  name  of  Q.  Nasonius 
Ambrosius. 

The  Ponte  Molle,  which  derives  its  name  from  an  unknown 
Koman  Mulvius,  or  from  the  neighbouring  hills,  carries  the 
Flaminian  Eoad  over  the  Tiber  at  a  distance  of  two  miles 
from  the  Porta  del  Popolo,  Some  of  the  foundations  of  the 
bridge,  and  parts  of  the  peperino  and  travertine  stonework  in 
the  smaller  arches,  are  ancient.  This  victory  of  Constantine 
over  Maxentius,  which  is  usually  called  the  battle  of  the  Pons 
Mulvius,  was  gained  six  miles  further  along  the  road. 

An  inscription  cut  in  a  block  of  travertine  has  been  fixed  in 
the  right-hand  parapet  of  the  bridge.  This  inscription  records 
the  inspection  of  the  banks  of  the  Tiber  by  the  Censors  M. 
Valerius  and  Publius  Serveilius,  who  were  Censors  in  the  year 

B.C.  OO. 

Villa  of  Livia  at  Prima  Porta.— One  of  the  imperial 
villas  of  an  early  date  was  placed  on  the  right  bank  of  the 


/' 


THE  NEIGHBOURHOOD   OF  ROME. 


283 


i 


o 
< 

H 

/: 

s 
o 
in, 


y^ 

o 


Tiber  at  the  ninth  milestone  on  the  Via  Flaminia  in  the 
V  eientine  territory. 

The  Via  Flaminia  is  here  bordered  for  a  long  distance  on 
the  left-hand  side  by  tufa  rocks  of  a  reddish  hue,  whence  the 
district  had  obtained,  in  Livy's  time,  the  name  of  Saxa  Rubra. 

i    m^r^^^^'  ^^^  *^®  ^^^^^'  ^^  ^^^  ^^  *^^®  streams  which  enter 
the  riber  in  this  district,  and  beyond  it,  where  the  road  turns 
to  the  left,  and,  leaving  the  yalley  of  the  Tiber,  ascends  the  hill 
through  a  cutting,  is  the  stream  and  hamlet  of  Prima  Porta. 
On  the  right  of  the  road  here,  and  between  it  and  the  Tiber, 
he  the  ruins  of  a  large  villa,  the  various  terraces  of  which! 
^ised  one  above  the  other,  occupy  the  whole  of  the  top  of  the 
^11,  and  command  magnificent   views   of  the   Sabine   and 
Aquian  highlands.     There  can  be  no  doubt  that  these  ruins 
are  the  remains  of  the  villa  of  Livia  called  ad  GaUinas,  men- 
tioned by  Plmy  and  by  Suetonius  as  situated  at  the  ninth 
milestone  on  the  Via  Flaminia.     The  stvle  of  construction  in 
the  walls  which  remain  corresponds  to  that  of  the  Mausoleum 
of  Augustus  m  the  Campus  Martins.     The  reticulated  work 
has  that  pecuhar  irregularity  about  it  which  indicates  the 
transition   from   the  opus  incertum  to   the   more   regularly 
formed  opus  reticulatum.     Nibby  had  pointed  out  this  spot  in 
1837  as  one  in  which  a  rich  harvest  might  be  reaped  from  ex- 
cavating, but  it  was  not  till  1863  that  the  splendid  statue  of 
Augustus,  now  in  the  Braccio  Nuovo  of  the  Vatican  with 
other  interesting  sculptures,  was  dug  up  here.^ 

At  the  same  time  some  rooms  were  excavated  at  a  depth 
of  ten  feet,  under  the  level  of  the  ancient  villa.  They  had 
apparently  been  closed  at  a  very  early  time  and  filled  with 
earth,  m  order  to  erect  a  building  over  them.  The  largest  of 
these  was  apparently  intended  as  a  cool  retreat  during  the 
summer  heats,  and  the  walls  are  painted  with  trees  and  birds, 
m  imitation  of  a  rustic  bower.  These  paintings  have  attracted 
great  attention  as  being  some  of  the  most  ancient  now  in 
existence,  and  also  on  account  of  their  intrinsic  beauty,  and 
the  wonderful  way  in  which  they  have  preserved  their  fresh- 
ness of  colour.  The  pavement  of  this  painted  room  was  of 
marble,  which  was,  however,  removed  when  the  earth  was 
thrown  in  at  the  time  of  building  the  rooms  above. 

*  Nibby,  Anal.  iii.  31.     Bull,  dell'  Inst.  1863,  pp.  72,  81. 


284 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


The  legend  about  this  villa  connects  it  with  the  death  of 
Nero,  relating  that  the  laurel  bushes  and  the  white  fowls,  for 
which  the  villa  had  been  celebrated  since  the  days  of  Livia, 
withered  and  died  out  during  Nero's  last  days. 

y  eii.  Beyond  Prima  Porta,  to  the  west,  is  the  site  of  Veii. 
This  is  about  twelve  miles  from  Rome,  and  now  bears  the 
name  of  Isola  Farnese.  But  little  remains  of  the  ancient  city 
have  been  found;  no  doubt,  however,  is  now  felt  by  antiquaries 
that  the  city  occupied  the  rocky  ground  between  the  Cremera 
and  the  Fosso  de'  due  Fossi. 

Inscriptions  bearing  the  names  of  some  Etruscan  families, 
especially  the  Tarquitii,  have  been  found  here,  and  the 
remains  of  the  ancient  citadel,  on  the  spot  now  called  the 
Piazza  d'Armi,  are  mentioned  in  some  old  ecclesiastical 
documents. 

One  of  the  gates  must  have  been  at  the  spot  now  called 
the  Porta  de'  Sette  Pagi  as  the  road  from  Veii  to  Sutri  pro- 
bably passed  out  here,  and  another  gate  was  opposite  Isola 
called  the  Porta  dell'  Arco.  A  third  may  have  stood  towards 
Fidenae,  where  the  ancient  postern  and  flight  of  steps  is  now 
to  be  seen,  called  La  Scaletta.  Other  remains  are  to  be  seen 
near  the  site  of  a  gate  called  by  Canina  La  Spezieria.  The 
Ponte  Sodo  and  the  tombs  near  it  are  worth  attention,  as  is 
also  the  ancient  Etruscan  tomb  called  the  Grotta  Campagna, 
m  which  a  most  interesting  set  of  sepulchral  ornamentations 
and  cinerary  urns  has  been  preserved.  The  chief  monuments 
of  Veii,  which  have  been  taken  to  Eome,  are  the  Ionic 
columns  in  front  of  the  Post  Office  in  the  Piazza  Colonna,  the 
Statue  of  Tiberius,  and  the  colossal  heads  of  Tiberius  and 
Augustus,  now  in  the  Vatican  Museum.* 

*  See  Dennis,  "Etruria,"  ch.  i. 


REDUCTION 

RATIO 

CHANGE(S) 

WITHIN 
TITLE 


irf^-. 


EXPLICATIO 

SupplanmUi'  crrta 


IS 


'i 


>/„.,    I..-U- 


TuUMi 


HORTi 
DOM  IT L*: 


r , 


-^mj-. 


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'^UlTijUi 


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l^i^*^^/^ 


SI.'  I'-r  21.  ', !  '^^^ 


f*    \C"     Villa  vl.iidiAisi 


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CAMPUS 

L+.*.*.*~».«-«-*-*'*-+"»-»- •♦•■»•:/  p. riJurtt^-'i' ( Buns'"'/ 
^IMINALIS 


rlSmi>iii^ 


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I    PORTA  CAPENA 
U.  CAELIMONTIUM  ^ 

m   ISIS   ET  SERAP\S. 
IV   VIA  SACRA.   (TEMPLUM  PACIS) 

V  tSQUILIAE. 

VI  ALTASEMITA 
VII   VIA  LATA 

VllL  FORUM  ROMANUM 
IX.  CIRCUS  FLAMINIUS. 
X.  PALATIUM 
M  CI  ROUS  MAXIMUS. 

XII  PISCINA  PUBLICA. 

XIII  AVENTINUS 

XIV  TRANS  TIBERJM. 


'05 


>i;>ii<<     Of 


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ICHNOGRAPHIA 
ROMAE   VETERIS. 


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EXPLICATIO. 

JmynimvoiZa/  tptae  sutpersccnjb. 
SuppLanento/  certw. 
SuppLementw  probabybia/. 


S.  huUTTOMtO 


'&? 


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■^• 


1 


I'tt-V 


OU/»' 


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.."■  \'<\     Bcnicoinpa^ni 


ri' 


f    ^ 


I'J\a 


ic""^ 


Castra      V 
'^   PraetxHia 


^^  \> 


\\ 


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8/' 
Xfl/ 

— *^ 

/S£mstbio 


..'->!• 


i^arii  lae 


nvi  v^|»-w<^ 


MdSc 


Orio 


\ 


^:4 


. 


EXPLICATIO. 

McmimverCba/  cfuae  saperstaU/. 
SappUnvcntcu  certw. 
SuppLenuntcu  prohahtUa/. 


r 

CO 

1 

pi 

( 

^ 

1 

^Sfj'^ ' 

V 

5 

W' 

\j 

D 

m 

o 

W' 

r 

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^SJ^*" 

( 

.^ 

^ 

,   \ 

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Ai# 

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1 

TFaJumni. 

K^ 

N 

> 

V 

-^^ 

^ 

/ 

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^ 

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Mk-'K^ 

colore,  (Upidteu  est  ^Romw  hodier 


REGIO 

I.  PORTA  CAPENA. 
n.  CAELIMONTIUM. 
m.  ISIS    ET  SERAPIS, 

rv.  VIA  SACRA,  (templum  pacis) 

V.  ESQUILIAE. 
VI.  ALTA  SEMITA. 
YII   VIA  LATA. 
YELL  FORUM  ROMANUM. 
IX.  CIRCUS  FLAMINIUS. 
X.  PALATIUM. 
XI.  CIRCUS  MAXIMUS. 
XII.  PISCINA  PUBLICA. 
Jan.  AVENTINUS. 
XIV.  TRANS  TIBERJM. 


I 


^d^o^-^-ymjo-MOv 


INDEX. 


INDEX. 


A  CADEMIA,  Palatine,  21. 

.-Edes  Publican  Flavian,  21. 
^^^raria,  70. 

.Esculapius,  temple  of,  144. 
Agorer  of  Servius,  95,  188. 
Agripi)a,  M.,  131,  162,  264. 
Agripnina,  pedestal  of,  176. 
Alba  Longa,  243. 
Alban  Hills,  220. 

Lake,  238  ;  Eniissarium  or 

tunnel  of,  240. 

Mount,  242. 


Albanuni  Ca^saruni,  237. 

Albula,  218. 

Albulaj  Aqua^  265. 

Alexanienus,  16. 

Alinienta  Publiea,  51. 

Allia,  281. 

Altar  of  Sextius,  Palatine,  14. 

Ampbitlieatres,  ancient,  78,  )wtc, 

81,  note,  87. 
Aniphitheatruni  Castrense,  209. 
Ancyrean  Inscription,  53,  175. 
Anio,  falls  of,  270. 
Antoninus  Pius,  column  of,  168 ; 

his  temple  of  Faustina,  47. 
Appian  Itoad,  225,  243. 
Aqueduct,  Alexandrine,  91. 

Anio  Novus,  98,  250. 

Anio  Vetus,  250. 

Claudian,  18,  97,  210,  248, 


250. 


Julian,  211,  2.50. 

Marcian,  197,  205,  207,  211, 


248,  250, 

Aqua  Tepula,  250. 

Aqua  Virgo,  167. 

Arches  and  archways,  11. 
Arch  of  Constantine,  73. 


Arch  of  Dolabella,  211. 

Drusus,  207. 

Gallienus,  92. 

Severus,  6.3. 

Silversmiths,  129. 

Tiberius,  54. 

Titus,  10,  31. 

Trajan,  73,  100. 

Architectural  styles,  6-12,  78. 
Arco  dei  Pantani,  112. 
Area  Flacciana,  13,  14. 

Palatina,  25,  28. 

Argentariorum  Arcus,  129. 
Ariccia,  causeway  at,  243. 
Arval  College,  263. 
Atrium,  Palatine,  23. 

Vestae,  44. 

Atta,  tomb  of,  255. 
Atticus,  tomb  of,  233. 
Auditorium  of  Maecenas,  95. 
Auguratorium,  Palatine,  29. 
Augustan  buildings.  Palatine,  21, 
Augustus,  Forum  of,  110. 

Mausoleum  of,  173. 

Temple  of,  at  Ancyra,  175. 

Aurelian's  Walls,  5,  190,  199. 
Aurelius,  M.,  column  of,  169. 
Aventine  and  Cjtiian  Hills,  193. 

Balbus,  Theatre  of,  154. 
Bandusiae  Fons,  279. 
Basilica,  of  Constantine,  35. 

Julia,  52. 

Palatine,  23. 

Ulpia,  100. 

Bas-reliefs  in  Forum,  51. 

Baths  of  Agrippa,  at  Aqua?  Al- 

buL-e,  264. 
Caracalla,  201. 


i: 


V'' 


288 


ANCIENT  ROME. 


Baths  of  Constantine,  123. 

Du)cletian,  185. 

Titus,  88. 

Trajan,  90. 

Belvedere,  Palatine,  18. 
Bihliotheca,  Palatine,  21. 
Bibulus,  toinl»  of,  119. 
Brickwork,  12,  71. 
Bronze  cone  and  peacocks,  181. 
Bovilla%  235. 

C.Tcilia  Metella,  tonil>  of,  231. 

Oiidian,  houses  on,  213. 

Catt'arelli  Palace,  120. 

Cali;;ula,  Buildings  of,  on  Pala- 
tine, 30. 

Canipagna,  unhealthinessof,  219; 
hills  of,  220 ;  population,  222. 

(.^apitoline  plan  of  Konie,  39,  oS, 
14.3,  151. 

Capitoliuni,  120. 

Caracalla,  Baths  of,  201. 

Career  Maniertinus,  7,  67. 

<^a.sale  Kotondo,  23.">. 

(.^assius,  villa  of,  at  Tilmr,  276. 

Castiglione,  Tower  of,  257. 

Cement,  Roman,  216. 

(^estius,  tonibof,  199. 

Cicero's  Mlla,  254. 

(,'ircus  Flaminius,  154. 

Maxinius,  Carceres  of,  1.38, 

1-11. 


of  Maxentius,  229. 

Cisterns,  14,  67,  265. 

Claudian  Aqueduct,  18,  97,  210, 
248,  250. 

Climate,  218. 

Clivus  Victorias  30. 

Cloaca  of  Forum,  54. 

Maxima,  54,  131. 

Clodius,  Villa  of,  236,  238. 

Cladia,  statue  of,  24. 

Cluilia  Fossa,  231. 

Coliseum,  76  ;  architecture  of,  79, 
87 ;  excavations  in,  82 ;  charac- 
teristic of  builder,  85. 

Colonnacce,  115. 

Colossus  of  Nero,  78. 

Columbaria,  92,  206. 

Column  of  Antoninus  Pius,  168. 

Marcus  Aurelius,  169. 


Column  of  Phocas,  49. 

Trajan,    102  ;  casts  of,   106, 

108. 
Columna  Centenaria,  172. 
Columns,  11. 
Comitium,  61. 
CommcMlus,  Palace  of,  213. 
Composite  capitals,  9. 
Cone,  bnmze,  181. 
Constantine,  Arch  of,  73. 

Basilica  of,  35. 

Baths  of,  123. 

Corinthian  capi teals,  10,  42. 
Cornelia,  statue  of,  153. 
Cosmedin,  S.  Maria  in,  136,  1.39. 
Cremera,  The,  283. 
Cryj)ta  Suburu',  54. 

Bjilbi,  l.>4. 

CrvptoiM)rticus,  25,  84,  154. 

Curia,  6.3. 

Cyl)ele,  statue  of,  29. 

D.acian  campaigns,  Trajcan's,  106. 

Diana'  Nemus,  244. 

Digentia,  276. 

Dii  Ct)nsentes,  area  of,  58. 

Dioscuri,  statues,  124. 

Divus  Kediculus,  Temple  of,  227. 

Dogana,  in  Piazzi  di  Pietra,  1()7. 

Doral)ella,  Arch  of,  211. 

Domitian,  Statue  of,  50;  his  Tem- 
ple of  Minerva,  117. 

Domitius  Calvinus,  pedestal,  2(5, 
28. 

Domus  Aurea  of  Nero,  35,  78,  88. 

Gelotiana,  15. 

Tiberiana,  30. 

Transitoria,  35. 


Doria  P.alace,  159. 
Drusus,  Arch  of,  207. 

Egeria,  grotto  of,  227. 
Egvptian  antiquities,  161. 
Einsiedeln  MS.,  60,  63,  90,  157, 

183,  187,  190. 
Emissaria,  133,  240,  270. 
EmiK)rium,  198. 
Eurysaces,  tomb  of,  97. 
Equestrian  statue  in  Forum,  base 

of,  50 ;  in  Velabrum,  148. 
Esquiline,  88,  91. 


INDEX. 


289 


See 


Fasti  Praenestini,  261. 
Faustina,  Temple  of,  47. 

Cha}»el  of,  63. 

Feria^  Latiniie,  242. 
Fidena',  281,  284. 
Fiumicino,  263. 
Flaminia,  Via,  279,  283. 
Flavian   amphitheatre,   76. 

Coliseum. 
Fontana  Paolo,  117. 
Forum  Augusti,  110. 

Boarium,  129. 

Julium,  110. 

Nerva\  115. 

Olitorium,  140,  151. 

Roiuanum,  41. 

Trajani,  100. 

Fratres  Arvales,  263. 
Freshwater  strata,  216. 


Gabii,  257  ;  stone  of,  258. 
Gabinius,  Villa  of,  254. 
Gallienus,  Arch  of,  92. 
Galuccio,  Terme  di,  93. 
Gelotiana,  Donms,  15. 
Geology  of  Campagna,  214. 
Germaius,  15,  28. 
Germanicus,  House  of,  25. 
(ieta,  erased,  61,  64,  129,  149. 
Gnomon  Obelisk,  167. 
Gordiana,  Villa,  255. 
Gothic  spoliations,  180,  184,  223, 

266. 
Gradus  Concordia?,  61. 
Graffiti,  16,  29,  84. 
Gnecostasis,  64. 
Grotto  of  Egeria,  227. 

Hadrian's  Villa,  266;  mausoleum, 

179. 
Heliogabalus,  Lavacrum,  of,  39. 
Heroon  of  J.  Ciesar,  46. 

of  Villa  Gordiana,  255. 

Horace,  Sabine  farm  of,  276. 
Horatii    and    Curiatii,    so  called 

tomb  of,  236. 

Imperial  Monuments,  .3. 
Island  of  Tiber,  144. 
Isola  Farnese,  284. 


Janus  Quadrifrons,  127. 
Julius  Ca'sar,  Heroon  of,  46. 
Jupiter  Latiaris,  242. 

Pluvius,  171. 

Propugnator,  28. 

Redux,  211. 

Stator,  24. 

Victor,  28. 

Juturna,  fountain  of,  44. 

Labicum,  259. 

Laocoon,  89. 

Lararium,  Palatine,  23. 

Laterani,  House  of,  210. 

Latifundia,  222. 

Latin  road,  tombs  on,  245. 

Latin m,  toMns  of,  222. 

Lautumia',  68. 

Lavacrum  of  Heliogabalus,  39. 

Legio  fulminata,  171. 

Li  via.  Villa  of,  at  Prima  Porta, 

97,  219,  281. 
Lucretilis,  279. 

Maecenas,    house  of,   89;    Audi- 
torium of,  95. 

Mamertine  Prison,  7,  67. 

Mandela,  276. 

Marcellus,  theatre  of,  141. 

Marcus  Aurelius,  statue  of,  109, 
173  ;    Column  of,  169. 

Marine  strata,  214. 

Marius,  Trophies  of,  91. 

Masonry,  Roman,  6,  196. 

Mausoleum  of  Augustus,  173. 

Hadrian,  179. 

Maxentius,  Basilica  of  {see  Con- 
stantine), Circus  of,  229. 

Meta  Sudans,  71. 

Miliarium  Aureum,  66. 

Minerva  Medica,  92,  94. 

Mons  Sacer,  279. 

Monte  Cavallo,  124. 

Citorio,  169. 

Testaccio,  198. 

Monumental  History,  3. 

Monumentum    Ancyranum,    53, 
175. 

Muro  Torto,  177. 

Navicella,  211. 


U 


290 


ANCIENT  ROME. 


Nenii,  T^ke  of,  238,  243 ;  Villa 

at,  244. 
Nero,    Colossal    statue    of,    78 ; 

(lolden  House  of,  88;  see  also 

Donius  Aurea. 
Nerva,  Forum  of,  115. 
Noinentana,  Via,  279. 
Nyiii|»li;»'Uin,  Alexaiidri,  91,  209. 
Palatine,  22. 

Obelisks,  12,  102,  161,  167,  173, 

175. 
Octavia,  Portico  of,  149. 
Ostia,  261. 

Palace  of  the  Senator,  68. 
Palatine,  13;  ancient  walls,  14; 

Belvedere,    18 ;    paintings,  22, 

26. 
Pantheon,    162  ;    date    of,    165 ; 

plundered,  166. 
Pedestals,  in  Forum,  49. 
Penates,  chapel  of,  39. 
Poristvlium,  Palatine,  22. 
Phaon,  Villa  of,  279. 
Ph<K'as,  column  of,  49. 
Piazza  Navona,  173. 

. Hocca  della  Veritk,  141. 

di  M<mte  Cavallo,  124. 

Pillar  of  Antcminus  Pius,  168. 
Plan  of  Rome,  ancient,  39,  53, 151. 
Plautian  Tomh,  266. 
Ponipev,  Theatre  of,  155  ;    Villa 

and  tomh  of,  236. 
Pons  /Klius,  177. 

Aurelius,  157. 

Fahricius,  144. 

Ponte  Lucano,  266. 

MoUe,   or    Milvian    bridge, 

281 

di  Nono,  257. 

Nomentano,  279,  282. 

Rotto,  144. 

S.  Sisto,  157. 

Porta   Appia   (San   Sebastiano), 

227. 

Asinaria,  246. 

Capena,  197,  227. 

Carmentalis,  151. 

Chiusa,  190. 

CoUina,  281. 


Porta  Latina,  247. 

Magi;i»>re,  97. 

Mugituiia,  24. 

Ratuniena,  1 19. 

Romanula.  13. 

Saiaria,  280. 

S.  Lorenzo,  96,  97. 

S.  Paolo,  199,  200. 

Viminalis,  95,  185. 

Porticus  Catuli,  13. 
.lulia,  54. 

Livia%  34. 

Margaritaria,  33. 

Metelli,  151. 

(Jctavias  149. 

Pompeii,  154. 

Porto,  264. 

Pozzolana,  216. 

Pra'nestc,  259. 

Pra'torian  Camp,  189,  210. 

Prima  Porta,  statue  of  Augustus 

from,  2S3  ;  Villa  of  Livia,  281. 
Puteal,<m  Palatine,  28;  in  Forum, 

44. 
Pulchrum  Litus,  131. 

Quintiliana,  Villa  of  Commmlus, 

233,  248  ;  sculpture  from,  234. 
Quirinal  Hill,  40,  104,  124,  185. 

Rediculus,  Divus,  227. 
Regal  Miuiuments,  3,  193. 
Regia,  3.3,  44 

Repuhlican  Mcmumonts,  3. 
Retioilated  work,  26. 
Rienzi,  177. 

Roma  Vecchia,  231,  248. 
Rostra  of  the  Enii)ire,  64  ;  Julian, 
47. 

Sacra  Via,  .35,  .39. 

Saiaria  Via,  279. 

Salita  del  (irillo,  ruin  in,  100. 

Sallusti.a,  statue  of,  209. 

S.  Adriano,  6.3. 

S.  Aiidrca  «lella  Valle,  155. 

S.  Angelo,  bridge  and  castle  of, 

179. 
S.  Angelo  in  Pe.scaria,  15.3. 
S.  Constanza,  ('hapel  of,  279. 
8S.  Cosnia  and  Damiano,  37,  40. 


imtii'iiiih'Ti'iMM 


INDEX. 


291 


136, 


S.  Croce  in  Gerasalemme,  209. 

S.  Francesca  Romana,  3.3. 

S.  Giorgio  in  Velahro,  127,  129. 

S.  Giuseppe  dei  Faiegnami,  67. 

S.  (jJregorio,  18. 

S.  Lorenzo  fuori  le  Mure,  9,  265. 

S.  Lorenzo  in  Miranda,  40,  47. 

S.  Maria  Antiqua,  39. 

S.  Maria  ad  Martyres,  162. 

S.  Maria  <legli  Angeli,  185. 

S.  Maria  della  Consolazione,  12.3 

S.  Maria  Egiziaca,  134. 

S.    Maria  in   Cosmedin,   7, 

1.39. 

S.  Maria  in  Portico,  153. 
S.  Maria  in  Trastevere,  9. 
S.  Maria  in  Via  Lata,  159. 
S.  Maria  Liberatrice,  30,  44. 
S.  Maria  Maggior°,  37,  117. 
S.  Maria  sopra  -Minerva,  94,  161. 
SS.  Martina  e  Luca,  110. 
S.  Michade  Archangelo,  151. 
S.  Nicola  in  Carcere,  ancient  re 

mains  in,  146. 
S.  Salvatore  in  Maximis,  122. 
S.  Teodoro,  13. 
S.  Urhano,  229. 
Saxa  Rubra,  283. 
Scala  Caci,  28. 
Schola  Xanthi,  58. 
Scipios,  Tomb  of,  206. 
Scuola  di  Cicerone,  253,  254. 
Seneca,  Villa  of,  231. 
Septa,  159. 

Septimius  Severus,  buildings  of, 
on  the  Palatine,  18,  20  ;    Arch 
of,  63. 
Septizoniuni,  20,  18.3. 
Servian  Walls,  95,  188,  193. 
Sessorium,  207. 
Sette  Basse,  248. 

Sale,  89. 

Site  of  Rome,  1. 
Sortes  Pra'nestinoe,  261. 
Stadium,  Palatine,  16. 
Stagnum  Neronis,  88. 
Subura,  54. 
Suovetaurilia,  51,  74,  107. 

Tabularium,  61,  68. 
Tarpeian  Rock,  123. 


Tarquin  Dynasty,  133,  188,  193. 
Teatro  Correa,  173. 
Temj>io  delle  Tosse,  275. 
Temple  of  ^-Esculapius,  144. 

Albunea  at  Tiv<di,  274. 

Antoninus  and  Faustina,  47. 

Apollo,  Palatine,  'SO. 

Apollo,   near  Circus  Hami- 

nius,  151,  154. 

Bacchus  or  H<mos,  229. 

Castor,  10,  30,  41. 

Ceres,  136. 

Concord,  60. 

Cybele,  28. 

Diana,  Nemi,  244. 

Divus  Rediculus,  227. 

I'ortuna  (called  "  Virilis  ") 

134. 

Fortuna,  at  Pra'neste,  260. 

Hercules     (called     Ve.sta). 

136. 

Isis,  160. 

Juno,  at  Gabii,  257. 

Juno  Regina,  151. 

Juno  So.spita,  148. 

Jupiter     Capitolinus, 


120 


30, 


Juinter  Feretrius,  28. 

Jupiter  Latiaris,  242. 

Jupiter  Propugnator,  28. 

Jupiter  Jfedux,  211. 

Jujuter  Stator,  24. 

Jupiter  Victor,  28. 

Lares  l*ra>stites,  28. 

Marcus  Aurelius,  169. 

Mars  Ultor,  110,  115. 

Minerva,  117. 

Minerva  Chalcidica,  161. 

"  Minerva  Medica,"  92. 

• Penates,  37. 

Pietas,  148. 

Romulus,  39;  also,  231. 

Sacra  Urbs,  37. 

Saturn,  9,  .55. 

Serapis,  ItJO. 

Sibyl  at  Tibur,  274. 

Spes,  148. 

Spes  Vetus,  209. 

Sun,  Aurelian's,  123. 

Sun  and  Moon,    Hadrians, 

34. 


292 


ANCIENT   I\OME. 


Temple  of  "Venus  and  Cupid," 
'2iYX 

Venu^and  Rome,  33. 

-* —   Vesj)a.sian,  oS. 

Vesta,  44,  46  ;  at  Tibur,  272. 

Vesta  or  Hercules,  136. 

Temples,  on  Palatine,  27. 
Templnm  Cratieuhe,  154. 
Terme  di  (Jaluocio,  04. 
Theatre  of  Ballms,  154. 

Marcel!  us,  141. 

Pompey,  155. 

Thernue.     See  Baths. 

Tiher,    Island  of,  144  ;  water  of, 

217. 
Til)erius,  palace  of,  30  ;  arch,  54. 

House  of,  25. 

Titus,  arch  of,  10,  31  ;   baths  of, 

88,  90. 
Tivoli,  or  Tibur,  219,  265  ;  Villas 

at,  275. 
Tomb  of  Q.  Atta,  255. 
Atticus,  233. 

Bibulus,  119. 

Camellia  Metella,  231. 

C.  Cestius,  199. 

Flurysaces,  97. 

the  Horatii,  236. 

the  Plautii,  266. 

Tombs  of  Cornelian  Scipios,  78, 
note,  206. 

on  Via  Latina,  245. 

Torre  Fiscale,  248. 

Paterno,  ruins  at,  264. 

Pij^natara,  257. 

Citranj;«)le,  155 

Trajan,  bas-reliefs,  51  ;  his  arch, 
73  ;  column,  102 ;  Forum,  100. 
Transitoria,  Domus,  35. 
Transitorium,  Forum,  112. 
Transtiberine  Walls,  6. 
Travertine,  quarries,  266. 
Triclinium,  Palatine,  21. 
Trophies  of  Marius,  91. 
Tufaceous  stone,  215. 
Tujrurium  F'austuli,  28. 


Tulli.anum,  67- 

Tunnels,  hydraulic,  133,  240,  270. 

Tuscan  style,  7. 

Tusculum,  250 ;  gate  and  walls, 

252;      history    of    city,    253; 

theatre  at,  251. 

Ustica,  279. 

Ustrina  Cjiesarum,  177. 

on  the  Appian  road,  233. 

Vacuna,  Chapel  of,  279. 
Varia,  276. 

Vatican  Hill,  inclosed,  6. 
Veii,  2S4. 
Velabrum,  127. 
Velaria  of  Coliseum,  81. 
Velia,  30. 

Verus,  Hcmse  of,  210. 
Vespasian,  Temple  of,  58. 
Vestals,  44,  46. 
Vettius  Pra'textatus,  58. 
Via  Appia,  225. 

Ardeatina,  227. 

Flaniinia,  279,  283. 

Labicana,  259. 

Latina,  227,  245. 

Nomentana,  279. 

Sacra,  35,  39. 

Salaria,  279. 

Tiburtina  or  Valeria,  265. 

Vico  Varo,  276. 
Vicus  Jugarius,  54. 

Tuscus,  44,  54.  ^> 

Vijma  (;uidi,  205.  ^ 

Villa  Mills,  20. 

Villas,    ancient,    219,    222.    See 
Cicero,  Hadrian,  Pomi)ey,  etc. 
Volcanic  strata,  215. 
Vota,  74. 


Walls  of  Rome,  3,  4,  6,  15. 

Aurelian,  Servian. 
Wolf,  bronze  figure,  15. 

Xanthi  Schola,  58. 


See 


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